Percy Jackson: Guardian of the Earth
by Iamareadingaddict
Summary: Percy was forced to stay behind in Tartarus after the closure of the doors of death. Chaos rescued him and took him under her wing. One year later Chaos throws him back into the world as a new Guardian. When he sees his friends at Camp Half-Blood he seems like an entirely different person. Will Percy be able to protect his former home from Tartarus himself?
1. Chapter 1

**POV: Percy**

Percy and Annabeth stumbled over the crest of the last hill, Annabeth leaning on him heavily as her ankle almost gave out.

There, in the valley below them were the doors of death.

Their goal for their trek across the entirety of Tartarus and they were finally here.

They radiated a dark aura that made him want to shrivel up and hide, but he couldn't.

Gaea's army was at their backs and they had no time to dawdle. They had to release the doors. Percy had to save Annabeth.

 _Flashback:_

 _The crew had just finished discussing what they knew about the doors of death. But all through the meeting Nico had looked strange. He initially shook it off as memories from his own time in Tartarus, but now as Nico called him back after the meeting had ended, Percy knew something was wrong._

" _What's up?"_

 _Nico's face looked pale, and he was finding it hard to meet Percy's eye._

" _The doors of death must be closed from both sides at the same time"._

 _Nico finally met Percy's eyes, and Percy was shocked at the incredible sadness he saw in the younger boy._

 _He was confused at first, but then the reality of that statement sunk in._

" _You mean— Somebody has to stay behind in Tartarus"._

 _It wasn't a question so much as an echo of Percy's own thoughts. But Nico nodded his head anyway._

 _End of Flashback:_

Percy had been planning to sacrifice himself and jump into Tartarus anyway, but when he and Annabeth fell in together, Percy knew that he had to save Annabeth.

And it would be the most painful thing he would ever have to do.

He had never told Annabeth, knowing that she would never allow him to stay behind by himself. But the crew needed her. Without her they would never win in the war against Gaea.

And yet there had been so many times when Percy had almost told her. So many times when he was almost selfish beyond compare and had asked her to stay with him.

But he knew that would be suicide. And to ask her to stay with him would only serve in killing her along with him.

No... this was the right call.

Together, they ran across the valley towards the doors.

They were big and heavy. Decorated with black obsidian and silver.

They could hear the sounds of a battle raging on the other side, and were thankful to see all their friends fighting on the other side, alive and well.

"Nico!"

Percy yelled through the doors, drawing the attention of the other boy.

Nico was the only one that Percy had told about his plan, and he made eye contact with the boy as last minute confirmation.

He gave a nod, so tiny it almost wasn't there. But it was enough.

Nico called a few of the others over and they pushed on their side of the doors while Annabeth and Percy pushed on their own side.

It was extremely heavy, and took almost all of their strength, but it moved.

They pushed until the crack between them was justthere was only a gap just wide enough for a person to squeeze through. And then, with a shared glance, both Nico and Percy stopped pushing.

"What are you doing? We're almost done. We're almost free", Annabeth said, shooting him a look.

He leaned down and their lips met. A sweet kiss. Their last kiss.

"I will always love you, Annabeth".

"I love you too. I don't understand. What's going on?", she asked, a little bit of hysteria creeping into her voice.

Percy had a feeling that she knew exactly what was going on, but she just didn't want to believe it.

"Goodbye, Annabeth".

With one last fond look, he shoved her through the gap where the others were waiting.

"No!", she cried out, fighting agains them.

But it was too late. With one last big shove, the doors closed with a loud bang.

Percy turned to face the oncoming army. They had just crested the hill, and hearing the bang from the closed doors grew even more enraged.

He knew there was nothing he could do. He wouldn't try to fight. He had saved his wise girl. That's what mattered most to him in the end.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the doors, Annabeth broke down.

The bang of the closed doors rang through her ears and refused to go away. Their finality was eternal, like death was supposed to be, but she just couldn't accept that he was gone.

"No! No, Percy don't do this to me! Percy! Don't leave me! Don't leave me…".

Her voice gradually grew quieter and quieter until she was silent. The battle raged on around her, and her friends were somewhere in the mix, but she could only sit there, numb.

 _Percy was gone. And he could never come back._

She didn't realise when the sounds of fighting stopped and her friends came over.

Silent tears were running down her face, and when Piper touched her shoulder she couldn't take it anymore and burst into tears.

 _Two Years Later:_

Heat blistered his skin, and he screamed so loud the cavern he was being held in shook. The lash came down once again on his back, bringing with it the now normal smell of burnt flesh.

Tears dripped down his face as his torturers laughed at him.

"Weak godling. How did you ever defeat me?".

The voice of Kronos rumbled above him.

Below him, the pit of lava spit and churned, as if wanting to grab him and pull him under.

The heat was unbearable. Even when he wasn't being punished painful blisters formed on his skin.

The spirits of Gaea and Kronos laughed at him from high above, taunting him.

Something began to bloom in the pit of his stomach. Something almost as hot and unrecognisable as the molten rock below him.

Hatred. Pure hatred.

He wanted to kill his torturers. He wanted to torture them just as they had tortured him.

He reached out with his powers, looking for something, anything that contained even the smallest amount of water that he could use.

But there was nothing. They had been sure of that.

Despite their taunts and claims they could see how powerful this demigod really was, and they made sure that there was nothing that he could use around him.

He struggled within his bonds, but any movement his made just caused unimaginable pain to fire through him.

His bones and joints, broken, beaten, battered.

He should just give up, accept his fate like he had so long ago.

He would have to, just let himself hang there, defeated. But suddenly a cold wind swept through the cavern.

Blessedly cold, healing, it cooled his skin and made him sigh in relief.

He was confused, though.

 _Where had that come from?_

His torturers suddenly stopped their laughing and gasped audibly.

With all the strength he had left he looked up. There, a being he didn't know hovered in front of him.

Its body was pure black, and its eyes seemed to be made from the stars themselves.

The others above him seemed to be scared of the being, but he wasn't.

It hovered above him, glaring at his captors. (as much as a being with stars for eyes could glare).

But then it turned its eyes on him, and he saw the strangest thing.

The being seemed to shift between a woman and a man, its eyes were intimidating, and yet he knew that it was here to help him.

"Hello, half-blood. My name is Chaos, the creator of the universe. I have seen what has been done to you and I am here to rescue you".

With that it touched a forefinger to his forehead, and a feeling of cold washed over him. So blissful it seemed that even his injuries stopped hurting for a moment.

He heard the anguished cries of his torturers as he was taken away.

But he didn't register much beyond that. He couldn't. Why should he? Finally a feeling of cold comfort was washing over him and he let it.

That was the last thing he felt before he vision went black, and he slipped into a blissfully dreamless sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**POV: Annabeth**

All fighting had stopped long ago. Her friends had gotten her aboard the Argo II and were now asleep in their own cabins. But all Annabeth could do was sit, numb in Percy's cabin.

She couldn't leave. Wouldn't leave.

The scent of his clothes and belongings seemed to be the only source of comfort for her.

Eventually she settled into a sort of numb focus. She never smiled anymore, purely focused on defeating Gaea.

And once that was done, once every monster was defeated, she felt no better.

Now she was back at camp, two years later, and she still had not gotten over him.

She no longer seemed numb, the façade she put up seemed to trick everybody besides her closest friends, and she was fine with that.

Every night she cried herself to sleep and was tortured of dreams and nightmares of their time together in Tartarus.

There, the only thing that had kept her going was the knowledge that they would make it out, together.

But that never happened. Percy had always planned on that never happening and some small part of her resented him for that.

Her friends tried to make her move on, tried to set her up with other guys. But it didn't work.

Nobody was the same as her Seaweed Brain. Nobody could possibly even begin to replace him.

It might have helped her to move on if she knew he was dead. But he wasn't. Both Hades and Nico confirmed that his soul had not yet crossed into the Underworld.

That small piece of information gave her hope. Gave her hope that maybe he was still out there, just waiting for rescue.

And so the search began. Everybody in the camp in some way or another participated. Even the gods.

But nobody could find him. Even Artemis.

Every year they had a meeting to discuss any new leads that they might have to his whereabouts. But it always ended the same.

Hades and Nico confirming he wasn't dead. Artemis saying that she had no new leads on his whereabouts. And Nico always suggesting the same thing.

"He is still in Tartarus. He is still alive".

And yet nobody wanted to go look for him. None of the gods or demigods ever volunteered to go down to Tartarus.

Naturally Annabeth would in a heartbeat, but Chiron and all the gods forbade it.

She had still not yet gotten over her PTSD from her first trip to Tartarus, and Dionysus said that another trip might tip her over the edge and into madness.

So she waited. Waited for some sort of miracle that would bring him back to her.

Even after everybody else had given up hope.

Even after everything that they had been through. She couldn't give up hope.

Because if she did it would feel like half of her had died.

 **POV: Percy**

When he woke up he was surprised to find that he was laying on a bed. With sheets.

It was cold, blissfully cold. And the smell of burning flesh no longer surrounded him. Replaced by the comforting scent of lemons and lavender.

When he tried to open his eyes he was almost blinded by the brightness of the room. It was white, and sterile, and reminded him of a hospital room.

He became aware of the bandages wrapped around his back, and the stinging feeling of ointment on his wounds.

When he tried to move he hissed in pain and collapsed back down onto the mattress.

"I wouldn't try to move if I were you".

A calming feminine voice spoke from the corner of the room.

He opened his eyes again and turned his head to see the same being that rescued him sitting in a chair in the corner of the room.

He supposed she had chosen to take a female form, because she now looked and sounded like a woman.

"You were severely injured. It took quite a bit of power to heal you. You've been asleep for about a week now. I was starting to fear that you would never wake up".

She got up from the chair and walked over to his bedside.

"Thank you for saving me, but... Um... Who exactly are you?".

At first he thought that she would smite him right then and there and be done with him. But instead she laughed.

It was a beautiful sound which was strangely melodious. It made him instantly feel better.

"Pardon me. I sometimes forget that you mortals are not aware of my existence. I am Chaos, creator of the universe".

Percy's eyes widened and suddenly it all came back to him. The torture, his rescue, the comforting cold wind that told him that everything would be okay. But most of all, he remembered his old life.

Tears rolled down his face and he grabbed his head in an effort to protect against the onslaught of memories that assaulted his mind.

A sob racked his body as one person in particular kept appearing again and again.

Annabeth.

His mind seemed to whisper her name like a chant.

 _Annabeth. Annabeth. Annabeth._

He looked up in despair and found Chaos sitting next to him, gently rubbing the small of his back.

"It's okay. Remember your old life. It's what made you who you are. But you need to let it all go".

She whispered comforting words at him until he was able to calm himself down.

She leaned back in her chair and gave him space, studying him like he was an interesting piece of artwork.

Slowly, and with a painful groan, he pushed himself so that he was sitting up against the headboard.

She tried to help him, but he waved her off.

When he was settled, she spoke again.

"Didn't that hurt?"

"Of course. But I can handle pain. What I can't handle is not knowing. So tell me, why am I here?".

She chuckled lightly at his words and told him.

"I was right about you. You are just the person I need. All right, I will tell you".

"Of all the beautiful worlds that I have created in this universe, Earth has always been my favourite. It was magnificent, and I loved it. What I don't love, is what it has turned into. There is so much evil on my beautiful Earth. And there is nothing I can do about it. Ancient laws forbid me from going down there and fixing it myself. So, I have decided to find a loophole. And that loophole, is you".

After she finished she looked at Percy expectantly as he thought over what she had said. Finally, it sunk in.

"Wait. You want me to go down to Earth and get rid of all of the evil there?".

It sounded ridiculous. But what she said next was even more ridiculous.

"Exactly. You and one other lost soul of my choice will become my heroes. You will represent me on Earth and counteract the evil that has corrupted my favourite planet".

She said this all with a smile, and suddenly, he found himself smiling too.

"I accept".

To be honest, Percy had always loved fighting monsters. As much as he had wanted to have a peaceful life with Annabeth, he knew that he would soon grow bored and tired without anything to fight.

"Good. When you begin to feel better we will begin to train. We have much work to do if you are going to be my hero by next year".

"Next year?".

 _He couldn't need_ _ **that**_ _much training could he?_

"Yes. Next year. You are a remarkable hero, but you still have much to improve upon if you are to be my representative. Now rest up. Training will start when you become able to get up and walk to my throne room without assistance".

With that said, she left. Leaving Percy to do something he hadn't done in a long time. Smile.


	3. Chapter 3

**POV: Annabeth**

Another year passed and still no sign of Percy.

The gods still came, and together they still talked for hours for as to how to save him. The only thing that was different this year was that neither Nico nor his father attended.

This left a sour taste in Annabeth's mouth.

 _How could they give up so easily? They had only been searching for two years and they had already decided they had better things to do? Well screw them._

The rest of the gods and heroes attended, and Annabeth was grateful for that.

After they defeated Gaea, Annabeth and the other crew members of the Argo II were made immortal.

Under other circumstances Annabeth would never have agreed, but with Percy gone, it seemed she had no other option.

They were in the middle of Artemis' explanation of her findings when Nico emerged from the shadows followed closely by his father.

Nico and Hades had grown steadily closer. To the point where Nico now ruled beside him in the Underworld. He even had his own tiny throne at the foot of his father's up in Olympus. In fact, they all did.

Nico stumbled after emerging from the shadows, and his body began to faze between physical and ghostly. It was scary. This usually only happened to him after he had exerted a great amount of energy, so he greatly peaked Annabeth's interest.

His father placed a hand on Nico's shoulder, and he was immediately grounded back into the physical world.

He looked up with a grateful nod before turning back around and addressing the meeting.

"Something's wrong".

The effect was instantaneous. The gods looked distressed and began to talk among themselves while tears formed in Poseidon's eyes and he quickly tried to wipe them away without anybody noticing.

The effect on the demigods was worse. From Nico's tone of voice, everybody immediately assumed that he meant that they had found his soul in the Underworld, which meant he had died.

Nico seemed to realise this and so interrupted before anybody could fall into hysterics.

"No, no, no, no. He's not dead".

That got everybody's attention.

"He's not dead he's just gone".

Everybody looked at him confused, so he continued.

"For the past two years, my father and eye were able to sense his soul in Tartarus. We didn't know where, and it was faint, but we knew for a fact that he was there. But now, now he's not. He's just gone. We thought at first that he had died, so we searched through the Underworld. That's where we were", at that addition he looked at Annabeth and she nodded as a form of forgiveness, "He's not there, but he's also not in Tartarus, or anywhere on Earth. He has just… vanished".

There was silence that lasted for at least five minutes before Zeus spoke.

"How is that possible. One cannot just simply vanish. He has to be somewhere".

Everybody turned to look at Poseidon, but he was not looking. Instead, he just looked out to sea, his eyes slightly misty. The waves responded to his mood, splashing and beating against the shore.

Finally, he spoke, "He is not in the ocean. I have searched and I do not sense his presence anywhere. How is this possible?".

"Lord Poseidon, if I may. We cannot give up hope. Maybe his soul has disappeared because he has found a way to escape Tartarus. He is still out there. All souls go to the Underworld when they die. His has not, so, he is still alive. Somewhere, he is still _alive._ We cannot abandon him".

Even through her words Annabeth was crying. She tried to muster as much strength as she could in them, and it thankfully seemed to work. After another beat of silence, the discussion continued, and Annabeth sighed in relief.

They had not given up on him. If Percy Jackson was anywhere, they would find him.

 **POV: Percy**

 _One year later_

Percy walked down the halls of Chaos' palace, his boots making satisfying sounds along the black marble floors.

Chao's palace, which before looked so foreign and cold was now like home to him.

It was decorated to resemble space. Black marble made up most of the floors, and the walls were all painted a dark grey. All the fixtures were silver in color.

The only thing in the entire palace that didn't follow these colors was Percy and Xavier's rooms.

Percy's room was green blue and silver. He still loved the sea, it ran through his veins as much as blood did. But the cookies were lighter, colder. He liked the cold, it was the first thing he could remember from his rescue by Chaos.

Xavier was the other hero (or lost soul as Chaos liked to call them) that Chaos had rescued. He was a demititan, son of Hyperion, the Titan previously in charge of the sun.

No surprise there that his room was painted warm shades of yellow, orange, and red.

Xavier and he had become great friends ever since Chaos had brought him back a half a year ago.

Xavier had been cast out by his father and loathed him greatly. Hyperion has told him that he was only born to oppose demigods, and after they lost the war he and the other demititans were punished severely.

He had run away and probably would have died if Chaos hadn't rescued him.

He was in better shape than Percy when he had arrived, so after 6 months of training they were finally ready.

Percy had taken to dressing with a black cloak with a hood that covered his face. It covered up the scar on his face. The scar that reminded him of his two years of torture.

He stopped walking at the thought, his hands clenching at his sides. His eyes flashed dangerously but then a hand landed on his shoulder and interrupted him from his thoughts.

"Hey. Snap out of it, man. You're going to make the toilets explode again".

It was Xavier. He must have been walking to meet Chaos for the same summoning that he had. Percy could here the joke in his voice, but he wasn't kidding about the toilets.

One time when he was still recovering he had a nightmare and the toilets did explode. The halls were flooded for an entire day.

Slowly, he relaxed and his hands unclenched.

"There you go. Come on, let's go see what our Lady Chaos needs is for.

Since Percy arrived at Chaos' Palace, Xavier has been the only one capable of calming him down when the memories threaten to overwhelm him.

Xavier was always happy and bubbly. Percy always joked that he was the bright side of the sun whereas his father was the dark side.

You can't mistake him, though. Xavier and him were equally matched fighters, and his eyes could contain a scary amount of fire if he wanted to.

But usually they didn't. Usually he was happy. Usually.

Together they walked into Chaos' throne room. When Percy had first walked in here a year ago he had been amazed. Through an enchanted window in front of her throne, Lady Chaos was able to see any one of her worlds that she wanted.

Today, her view was of Earth, and she was frowning.

She smiled as they walked in, though. And the window immediately went dark.

"Boys! Good, I've been waiting for you".

Her image flickered and suddenly she was standing right in front of them.

"It seems that the day has finally come".

"What day, my lady?".

Xavier voiced the question that Percy had been thinking of himself.

"The day that I have been training you for. Today, you go to Earth to fulfill your duties".

She smiled down at them kindly, and they both kneeled on one knee at her feet.

"As you wish, my lady".

They had both pledged their allegiance to Lady Chaos when they had been recruited.

In return, she had granted them immortality and had promised them a fraction of her power to use in their duties.

Their job was to wipe all evil from the planet. Rapists, murderers, corrupt politicians. Lady Chaos believed that they were all destroying her beloved planet. They all had to go.

Throughout their training they were taught many different forms of combat, as well as being drilled in stealth and espionage.

They knelt as they knew that the time had come when Chaos would depart on them their last gifts.

She put a hand gently on both of their heads and started the process.

"Boys. As you know I am Chaos, creator of all. I have domain over every aspect of every world in the universe, including Earth. What domain would you each like control of?".

It was a simple question, yet Percy's mind drew a blank, so he let Xavier go first.

"My lady, I would like domain over all things hot. The winds, the hot sands, fire, light. I wish to have domain over all the things my father had and more. I want to be the good that my father never was".

"Very well". Percy could hear the smile in her voice and he knew that Xavier had chosen well.

That only put more pressure on his choice, though.

Xavier shuddered, undergoing the changes that he had wished for.

Golden wings sprouted from his back as he had asked for control over the winds. His hands ignited and his eyes flowed bright before dying down again.

She smiled kindly at him.

"It is done".

He lowered his head once more as a sign of respect before standing up.

He spread his wings tentatively before a huge grin took over his face.

"Oh man...", he moved them up and down once and shot into the air.

"This is awesome!", he shouted down, doing loops and barrel rolls.

Percy couldn't help but laugh at the kid-like joy on his face.

Lady Chaos turned her smiling eyes on Percy as Xavier touched down on the ground beside him and once again kneeled down on one knee.

"Now, Perseus. What is your choice?".

His mind was still reeling, but there was one question on his mind.

"When I make my decision, I will get to keep my powers as a demigod, right?".

The sea still played an important roll in his life, even if there wasn't much water in Chaos' residence it still ran through his blood. Losing that would be like losing a part of himself.

"Yes of course, Percy. If you wish your powers as the son of Poseidon will stay with you".

He breathed a sigh of relief, but his inner turmoil started again.

 _What should he choose? The only element he had ever felt close to was water, and he already had domain over that._

As if sending his thoughts, Chaos touched a hand to his shoulder and made him meet her eyes.

"Think, child. What element besides the water has ever brought you comfort?".

Her questions sent him back through his memories of when he was recovering in the castle. The cold, chilling feeling of his recovery room. The cold wind that touched his face when Chaos came to rescue him from Tartarus.

Just like that he new what he was going to ask for.

"I would like domain over the cold. The bitter wind and unforgiving darkness of snow and sleet in a blizzard. But also the lightness of the first snow of the wintertime".

Just like with Xavier, she touched his shoulder and she felt a powerful chill go through him that made him shudder. Wings sprouted from his back and he discovered after examining them that they were a blue as dark as the deepest depths of the ocean.

All of a sudden his skin felt cold to the touch, and he felt frost begin to gather beneath where he kneeled.

He was as familiar with his new powers as with his command over the sea, and found himself immediately able to reign in the chill that seemed to emigrate from him like an aura of power.

He stood up, tall with his new sense of power and stretched out his new wings.

They were sharp and angular, and the individual feathers felt somehow sharp and soft at the same time.

He smiled, a genuine smile. One that had not been seen in a long time.

He shot into the air, letting out a joyous whoop as he swirled through the air, riding cold currents of wind of his own making.

Finally he forced himself to touch down, standing side by side with Xavier.

Chaos smiled down at them fondly. Her eyes seemed to twinkle- although that may have just been the stars within the galaxies that made them up.

"Thank you my lady. I won't ever be able to repay you". Xavier said, kneeling down once again.

Percy copied his actions but Chaos did not allow them to stay like that for long.

"Stop, stop. You make me feel ancient when you do that".

"But my lady-", Xavier didn't get to finish whatever he was about to say as he was interrupted by his own laughter.

Just as suddenly, Percy understood what he was going to say and continued for him.

"But my lady, you are ancient".

He too burst out laughing until tears came to his eyes.

Meanwhile Chaos, the creator of the universe was giving them what could be described as a death glare.

But her eyes were still twinkling with amusement and she let them have their fun before she cut off their laughter.

"Alright, alright. I think that that's enough now".

They made that joke all the time, and it just got funnier every time.

But they heeded her words and stopped laughing.

"And now before I send you on your way I depart upon each of you one last gift. A weapon".

Percy initially tried to refuse. Riptide was always with him and it was his favorite weapon.

"My lady, I appreciate the gesture, but-".

She waved a hand, cutting him off.

"I know what you are going to say, Perseus, and you should not worry. I have just simply reshaped your faithful weapon".

"What? How? Riptide always returns to my pocket when it is taken away".

Just as he was saying this he felt in his pocket and noticed that the steady weight of his pen that was Riptide was missing.

She raised an eyebrow at him and he stopped talking, with Xavier smirking at the entire conversation.

Percy punched him playfully on the shoulder before they both turned to look at Chaos expectantly.

After a beat of silence she handed them each a pen. One was silver and one was gold.

Percy got the silver and Xavier got the gold.

They looked at each other and grinned before each uncapping their pens.

Percy's extended just like Riptide used to, except instead of a sword it unfolded into a trident.

His breath caught in his throat as the powerful feeling of the sea washed over him.

Inscribed on the handle was it's name, Anaklusmos.

He raised his eyebrow at Chaos, and she replied to his unspoken question.

"I left it in its Greek form so that you will always remember your roots. You are mine now, and you answer first and foremost to me. But I want you to remember who you are inside. You were Greek, you are Greek, and you will always be Greek. Never forget that".

He nodded his head solemnly and examined his new and improved version of his old weapon.

It was made of a silvery metal that seemed to swirl into an icy blue as he held it. The tips and base were both made of crystal. He was once again stunned by how much more in tune his powers seemed when holding a trident.

When he had been experimenting with different types of weapons when he was training with Chaos they had discovered that his powers and fighting skills were much stronger when he used a trident.

Ever since then the trident had become his default weapon, and his fighting skills had increased leaps and bounds.

Percy grinned, happy with his new weapon and turned to look at what Xavier had gotten.

He was grinning too, and his pen had extended and separated into two flaming swords. When he had uncapped the pen, the cap had transformed into a strap for them so he could wear them across his back if he wanted to.

After messing around with their new weapons for a moment, Chaos explained to them how they would each return to them if lost, just as Riptide originally had.

Too soon, it was time to go.

Lady Chaos pulled them each in for a hug, which surprised Percy at first, but he soon hugged her back, surprised at its warmth.

"Okay, you two. It's time to go. I will be monitoring your progress from here, and will be in contact if there is anything more I need to tell you".

"Goodbye, my lady", Percy said, bowing.

"Yes, thank you for everything", Xavier continued.

She just nodded her head in acknowledgement and a black portal opened up behind each of them.

"Go. Protect the Earth".

They nodded, then turned around.

Xavier grinned at him, and he grinned back before stepping straight into the blackness of the portal.

 _Percy Jackson was on his way home._


	4. Chapter 4

**POV: Annabeth**

Another year gone, and still no sign of Percy.

His sudden disappearance from everybody's consciousness last year was their only lead, and still nothing had come of it.

The annual meeting gathered in the amphitheater and looking around all that was seen was drawn faces and tears.

Nico and his father had their usual impassive faces on, but Annabeth could see the sadness and worry within Nico's dark eyes.

Poseidon's face was one of his usual brooding look. And it almost pained Annabeth to look at him.

The color of his eyes, the regal angles of his face and determined set of his jaw all only served as painful reminders of Percy.

Suddenly, there discussion was interrupted by the sound of shouts and running feet as they raced past the amphitheater.

"What the?".

Everybody had similar reactions, turning around in their seats, all straining to get a glimpse of what was going on.

Finally, a shout was heard coming from the dining pavilion.

"Intruder! Intruder!"

 **POV: Percy**

It had been a couple of months since Lady Chaos' portal had spit him out in the middle of the Canadian wilderness. He had travelled across the continent, destroying evil whenever he came across it.

He could sense it. It was like he had an internal GPS inside of him that was constantly tracking evil.

He had just followed and killed a corrupt politician when he found himself in the heart of Manhattan.

The mist was powerful here, but he didn't know exactly how powerful it was, so he retracted his wings into a tattoo that had appeared on his back so that he wouldn't draw attention.

Grabbing a newspaper from a stand nearby, he looked up and realised that it was July twentieth, the three year anniversary of his own disappearance.

He sighed sadly to himself as he thought of his old life in camp half-blood. The life he really truly missed.

Taking Anaklusmos out of his pocket, he twirled it between his fingers in a nervous habit that he had picked up.

He was wearing his usual black clothes and black cloak. The hood still covered his face.

The mist did a lot of things, but what it didn't do was cover up scars, and he had plenty of those. Even in the middle of July he was forced to wear long jeans. The cloak guarded his arms, but on the occasion that his arms did become visible, he got a lot of stares.

The heat wasn't a problem for him, his domain being the cold and all.

His hands in his pockets, his feet automatically carried him towards his old apartment. When he arrived, he looked up to the building only to discover that it had a sign on it that said, CONDEMNED.

It didn't surprise him. The place always was a dump.

Memories came rushing back and he had to brace himself against a wall.

His mother's smile, how she always smelled of the candy shop that she used to work at, the homemade blue cookies that he used to make just for him. And finally how happy she had seemed during those last few months with Paul.

Who had told her? What had they told her? Did they think he was dead?

All these questions circled and swirled around in his mind until he couldn't take it anymore.

He tucked his pen back into his pocket and opened his wings.

He summoned a cold wind and let it take him and pull him high into the air.

He watched from above with humor as the wind he had summoned made the mortals bundle up and shiver.

As he fly over the Long Island Sound he felt relieved to be away from the city. As much as he loved Manhattan, his senses were dulled there.

He flew low, dipping the tip of his wing into the water as he glided. It was one of the best feelings in the world.

Finally, he arrived at the edge of the camp. The woods guarded him from sight so he was able to watch as the campers there went about their usual daily activities.

His eyes settled on his old cabin and he flew down to reach it.

There was nobody around, and he had noticed when he was watching from the tree that none of his friends were there.

Jason, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Nico, _Annabeth._

They weren't there, and for the first time since he had sacrificed himself in Tartarus, Percy found himself wondering whether or not all of his friends had made it through the war.

 _Or any of them for that matter_.

The flower of worry that had begun to blossom in his heart grew larger as he wondered around the cabin area and found nobody.

Finally, he walked in to the Athena cabin.

A few of Annabeth's siblings that he recognised looked up in confusion as he entered, and one of them that he recognised, Malcolm finally spoke.

"Who are you? What do you want?".

Percy just brushed him off, though, and continued walking towards Annabeth's bunk.

It was neat and tidy, not a hair out of place and the bed neatly made.

This only scared him more. Annabeth was organised, but her work area was always messy.

She always said it was 'the cost of being brilliant'.

He smiled at the memory, but it soon faded as he looked over to her desk to find the entire area cleared.

His panic grew. He turned around to find the entire Athena cabin staring at his curiously.

"Where is Annabeth Chase?".

Everybody's face darkened in sadness, and Percy pushed through them and out of the cabin before he could hear their response.

He was attracting quite a few stares now, and then a few gasps of surprise as he opened his wings and took to the air.

He searched all of her usual places, the sword fighting arena, the Big House… Hell he even looked in the stables. There was nothing. She wasn't there.

A dark voice in the back of his mind started whispering things to him.

 _She's not here because she's dead._

 _All your friends are dead._

 _They died in the Second Giant War_

 _They died because you weren't there to protect them._

 _It's your fault that they died._

 _Your fault._

He looked down from where he had been searching in the air and saw that most of the campers had gathered in the dining pavilion.

 _Of course they're in the dining pavilion, you idiot. It's lunch time._

A storm had begun to brew, the weather reacting to his mood of complete panic. The ocean seemed as if it was trying to claw its way onto the shore as huge waves slammed into the beach.

He landed in the middle of the dining pavilion, a gust of cold wind sweeping through behind him and silencing the crowd immediately.

The feeling of the earth beneath his feet gave him added strength, and he drew himself up to his full height before addressing the crowd.

"Where is Annabeth Chase?!".

His voice was low and scratchy from his time in Tartarus breathing in the acidic air. His voice was low and dangerous, and he didn't have to speak loud to have complete control.

His face was hidden by his hood, but his stance was enough to make any demigod's mind scream 'danger!'.

He crossed his arms over his chest, enjoying the gasps that came when his scars became visible.

"WHERE IS SHE!".

His loud tone of voice snapped everybody out of their stupor and suddenly he was surrounded by demigods with their weapons pointed at him while others ran around camp screaming about an intruder.

 _Strange. Why are they running to the amphitheater?_

This observation gave him an idea.

While he was thinking this, the circle had tightened even more. A sword point pressed into his back, and somebody he didn't recognise in the crowd shouted to him.

"You're going to have to come with us".

He laughed, a dark sound that sent chills down people's arms.

The crowd stepped back, surprised and a little bit scared.

"Oh you guys are too cute". His words didn't hold any affection in them, and he began to walk through the crowd.

Two of the more brave ones in the crowd stepped forward and held on to his arms in an effort to restrain him.

But he just opened his wings to their full wingspan and knocked them away.

He laughed again before flying away. Something was happening at the amphitheater, and he intended to find out what.


	5. Chapter 5

**POV: Annabeth**

Everybody turned around in their seats to stare at Zeus in confusion.

He began to speak, but was soon drowned out by the sounds of huge waves hitting the beach in terrifying crashes.

"Poseidon! What are you doing? Calm down!".

The focus now turned to Lord Poseidon who was looking out to the sea in confusion.

"It's not me!".

"What do you mean it's not you? You are the lord of the seas. It has to be you!".

"Well it's not. It's not my fault!".

Just then, a figure dropped to the ground from high above, landing on one knee and making the earth crack around him.

The two brothers quieted as everybody stared at this new arrival.

He was clad in all black, his face was shrouded by a cloak that also covered most of his upper body.

He was wearing dark black jeans even though it was the middle of the summer.

But by far the most interesting thing about him were the dark blue wings that protruded from his back.

As he stood up, he pushed his cloak out of his way, exposing his arms.

He was wearing a plain black t-shirt, and as far as was visible his arms were covered with various burns and scars.

Everybody was shocked into silence, his injuries even eliciting a few gasps.

Lord Zeus was the first the recover.

"Who are you?".

There was a beat of silence before he spoke. His voice was familiar somehow, but it was impossible to tell where from.

"You don't know? I heard you have been looking for me". His voice was deep and scratchy, and held something within it that made my senses light up.

His words were confusing, but apparently not to Poseidon.

He gasped, and the strange man turned to face him.

"Ah good. I'd hoped I hadn't changed _that_ much".

He smiled a slight grin at his words, mischievous and slightly crooked, just like…

 _No. It couldn't be._

"Percy?".

The Lord of the Seas spoke, and the man's body language softened slightly.

"At your service".

He made a fake bow, but before anybody could talk or say much of anything he continued.

But his tone was icy, and nowhere near as friendly.

"Now will somebody _please_ tell me where the hell Annabeth Chase is?!".

His words grew louder as he continued until he was practically yelling. A wave crested on the water with an enormous crash that accentuated his words.

The happy smiles were wiped off of faces and replaced with confused looks at his icy demeanour.

But Annabeth didn't care.

"Percy!". She ran down from where she had been sitting on the second row of seating and sprinted as fast as she could towards him.

They met in the middle as he had also begun to move towards her and collapsed onto the floor together. Suddenly, the entire ocean was calm and a beautiful shade of blue green.

He held her in his arms as she sobbed incoherent things to him. Finally one thing came through.

"I thought you died!".

He wiped her tears from his cheek using his thumb and was about to say something else when a dark laugh interrupted them.

"How sweet!".

A chill ran down Percy's spine as he turned around to face his old enemy.

"Tartarus". His tone was back to being icy and dangerous as he stood in front of Annabeth in order to somehow protect her from the evil that seemed to be radiating off of this being in waves.

A man emerged from the shadows in the corner. His body was pure black, there were no stars or galaxies scattered around it as with Chaos. No, this man was much darker than her. His eyes were just red sockets full of fire and his very being seemed to radiate darkness.

Gods and demigods alike throughout the stadium drew their weapons, but the primordial only had eyes for Percy.

"Annabeth, go back to your seat", Percy warned, not taking his eyes of the man in front of him.

"But-"

"Go! Now!". She was shocked at his harsh words and he must of sensed this because he added one more thing on to the end in a softer voice, "Please".

"Awww. How sweet! Is she your little girlfriend son of Chaos?".

At this the gods seemed to stir uncomfortably, especially Poseidon, who stared at his son disbelievingly.

"I am not a son of Chaos. I belong to Chaos and serve her as payment for a debt I can never truly repay but I am still Poseidon's son".

The gods seemed shocked by his words, and some even sat down. But just for a moment, Poseidon looked happy.

"Boy, be careful how you speak to this being, he is-". Zeus tried to warn Percy of his manner of speaking, but he cut him off.

"Yes, yes, I know. This is Tartarus, primordial being of the pit. We've met". His last words were laced with a double meaning, but Annabeth had no time to ponder it when Tartarus continued.

He laughed again. A sound of pure darkness that seemed to affect everybody but Percy.

"We have met, haven't we little half-blood? Have you told them yet how?".

"I'll get to it", he growled. "Why are you here?".

A gasp went through the crowd of gods and demigods at Percy's rude words. But they did not seem to mind the primordial being.

"Glad to see you haven't lost your edge, Perseus. I'm just here to have some fun. I heard your great protector has finally let you free. I just wanted to come see for myself. How are you healing up?".

 _Flashback:_

Percy waited for them to come. The doors of death had long since disappeared off to their next location and now he just sat on the ground where they once were waiting for the army to reach him.

Best to make his death as quick and painless as possible.

The army had finally reached him, and a empousa was just about to slash him to pieces when a voice called out, "Wait!".

The voice seemed to come from here and everywhere at the same time, and the army looked up and around in confusion.

The depths of Tartarus somehow got darker, and then suddenly a figure appeared. A man, made completely of shadows with eyes of pure red fire.

"This one is mine". His words sent a shiver down Percy's spine, and the strong urge to run suddenly coursed through him like adrenaline. But he didn't.

 _I suppose that was my big mistake._

A couple of monsters bound him in cuffs that prevented him from using his powers (like there was any water around here to manipulate anyway), and dragged him towards the man who was now seated in a throne made of pure darkness.

"Who are you?". Percy tried to make his voice sound strong and brave, but it wavered, giving him away entirely.

The being smiled and sat back in his throne. "I am Tartarus, primordial being and ruler of this pit". It waved it hands to gesture to the environment around them, as though it was a grand masterpiece that he was proud of.

"What do you want from me?".

It sneered, taking one large step and suddenly being very close.

"I want you to remember. I want you to _always_ remember that I could crush you. _Me._ _I_ defeated Olympus' Greatest Hero. _I_ have succeeded where others have failed. Even my dearest wife was unable to defeat you. And yet, all you had to do was take a stroll through my domain, you have yet to face my entire essence and you are already defeated".

Tartarus had stood up and begun pacing while he talked, but now he was back, standing directly above him, that ugly sneer back on his face.

"You, the sea god's most favourite son. The hero of olympus! You have fallen. Olympus will fall too", its voice was low and dangerous, but he raised it again as he addressed Percy as well as the monsters who had him captive. "You will never be able to defeat me!".

He turned and began to walk away, turning to speak to one of the monsters holding Percy's chains. "Do it".

Those two words would spell out the beginning of the worst years of his life. The beginnings of unimaginable pain and suffering.

After those two words, the monsters got horrible grins on their faces.

Two of them held his chains back tighter, while another approached him with a hot iron in its hand.

It grinned wickedly one more time before it pressed the iron onto his cheek, filling the cavern with his screams, and his nostrils with the smell of burning flesh and blood. A smell that he would come to recognise as familiar.

The salt in the tears that spilled down his cheeks stung and sizzled, making him cry out more.

The last thing Percy heard before he blacked out from the pain was the dark laugh of Tartarus as he stood nearby and watched.

"Who are you, little demigod?!".

 _End of Flashback:_

"Oh I'm feeling just fine. How about yourself", Percy replied, sarcasm and venom dripping off of his every word.

There was that sinister laugh again. It made every fibre in Annabeth's being itch to run away. She could only marvel at how Percy could just stand there and hold such a casual sounding conversation with him.

"Oh I will be fine. Great even once I avenge my wife, Gaea. Your puny little world shall be mine for the taking".

The gods stood up at that, facing him and drawing his attention.

"We have defeated your wife. What makes you think that we will not defeat you?", Zeus called.

"Oh I think your young hero knows", Tartarus mocked, "Or have you not shown them?".

All eyes turned to Percy, but he just growled at Tartarus. "Leave this place", his voice is quiet and dangerous, but you can hear every syllable.

He only laughs and then turns to Percy with a sneer.

Percy's hands clench at his side, and faster than anybody can see, he has brought out Anaklusmos and a fully formed trident is in his hands.

"I said, LEAVE!", the power crackles beneath his hands, and he brings his trident down so that it slams into the earth, causing the entire area to shake and a crack to appear that snakes its way towards the being that is Tartarus.

His wings emerge and he is lifted into the air until he is level with the primordial's head.

Tartarus' sneer disappears, but he does not leave. "Who are you to defy me once again! Have you not learned your lesson from the first time?".

A cold wind sweeps through as Percy's anger grows.

"Who am I?", Percy's voice took on a dark coldness that had never been there before, and frost began to crawl across the ground at his feet, "I am the darkness of the cold that sweeps through and kills people in their own beds. I am the strength of the blizzard. I am winter itself! And you. _You_ do not stand a chance against me", he finishes with his voice cold and menacing.

He allows his aura to expand, freezing anything near him. He touches one finger to Tartarus and a frost slowly begins to creep across his body, starting at his chest and making its way across his entire being. Spreading like a spider web on a window.

The clouds above them grew dark as a hurricane began to form above them, turned white from the frost and snow that has gathered inside of it from Percy's aura.

"Did you practice that, boy?", Tartarus asks, a dark amusement creeping into his smile.

"When you and I fought, I had not fully accepted the strength of my powers. But now I know", lightening flashed within the growing hurricane above them as if to emphasise his point, "I will not be as easy to defeat as I was the last time we met. Do _not_ underestimate me".

If it is possible for a being made of pure darkness and hatred to look scared this one did. But his sneer soon returned as he began to try and speak again.

"This place will fall! And when it does-", he didn't get to fully carry out his threat as Percy interrupted him.

"NO!", a bitterly cold wind whipped through the amphitheater. In it you could see venti, wild spirits of the wind. They surrounded the primordial, cutting him off as they attacked him with vicious fierceness. "This _place_ , is under my protection. Do not _ever_ come here again! Or I will show you true anger".

"You better watch your back, half-blood. When the time comes, I will enjoy destroying you. _Personally_ ".

With that, the primordial stepped back into the shadows and disappeared.

Just as quickly as it arrived, the storm disappeared. The freak cold weather, the sudden hurricane, the minor earthquake. All gone. The sun was shining and the ocean was a wonderful calm blue as though the events that had just transpired had never happened.

The only evidence was the boy who now stood in the middle of the amphitheater, alone, with a heaving chest.

He collapsed forward, falling until he was on his hands and knees.

Tears dripped down his face, as his memories of Tartarus threatened to overwhelm him.

He was tired. So tired.

"Percy!". Annabeth came running, but before she could reach him he stood up.

In the disorganisation that was Percy's anger, the hood of his cloak had fallen away from his head, revealing his face for all to see.

His hair was still raven black and unkept. It fell across his face in unorganised yet perfect waves. But most of the similarities stop there. His skin, once so perfectly tanned from the beach was now pale from the repeated exposure to the cold and darkness. His face was sharper, more angular. And his eyes were darker, no longer the calming green of the sea on a lazy afternoon, but rather the stormy green of a wave about to pull you under.

The biggest shock factor, though, was not something that had changed, but rather something that had been added.

On his right cheek, was a scar, a brand.

The symbol of the sea, of his father was the most prominent thing about it. It took up almost his entire right cheek. Underneath it, the words όλα πρέπει να πέσουν, or "all must fall".

It was white and faded, made many years ago. But its meaning was still clearly visible.

 _I have beaten your greatest hero. Nothing will stop me from destroying you._

Percy locked eyes with his father, whose own trident was grasped in his hand where it always was.

His eye flashed to it for two seconds, his eyes filled with pain and memories before he opened his wings and left. Ignoring the calls of those behind him.

Everybody, even the gods, were shocked at what they had seen.

Then Annabeth broke down.

Tears started to roll down her face, and large ugly sobs escaped from her lips. She had just gotten him back. And now he was gone again?

And then her friends are there. Piper is rubbing her back and murmuring things that she doesn't remember but still somehow make her feel better. Jason and Leo are behind her, telling her that he'll be back, that he just has to cool off.

And a part of her knows that, but another part of her remembers how they had laid together and Tartarus and talked about how they were going to escape, together.

Soon, her tears and sobs stop, and she casts her friends grateful looks before once again tuning in to the small amount of conversation that had started up again.

"This is bad. This is really bad", Apollo said, his usual smooth look gone from his face replaced by one of fear.

"Well thank you for pointing that out for us, captain obvious", Artemis replied, trying to lighten the mood. But nobody missed the look that she gave her lieutenant, Thalia.

Finally, Zeus started to ask the real questions. "Where has he been?".

Everybody quieted at the lord of the sky's words. Until the quiet voice of Nico di Angelo spoke up.

"Speak up, nephew". The lord of the sky boomed, even though everybody knew full well that he had heard what he had said the first time.

"With Chaos, the creator of the universe".

All was silent, so Nico took this as his signal to continue.

"Think about it. We knew he was in Tartarus for the better half of two years, and then he just simply vanished. No trace. Chaos picked him up".

Annabeth's mother nodded. "Yes. It is the only explanation".

"But how? We thought that Chaos had faded eons ago", Zeus asked. And it was true. Chaos was truly the oldest being in the universe. The creator of everything. Others after her had faded so why hadn't she?

"Chaos cannot fade. Chaos is the creator. She is responsible for everything new. If she were to fade, the entire universe would fall into disarray. Back into… well… _chaos_ ", Annabeth reasoned. Her thoughts earned an approving look from her mother.

Looking around, everybody seemed satisfied with that solution. Finally, the mystery that they had been trying to solve for more than three years was over.

But one more thing hovered over their heads.

Finally, Zeus had the nerve to say it.

"And what of his powers?", he looked around, meeting everybody in the eye. Everybody but Poseidon, who was looking out to see with misty eyes. "What say you, brother?".

Finally, he turns away from the sea and speaks. "My _son_ is very powerful indeed".

Throughout the demonstration of all that Percy could do, one thing had stuck with the lord of the seas the most.

"He is still my son. I am still his father".

"Does this surprise you, uncle?", Athena asks, evaluating his body language and movements.

Poseidon looks at the trident in his hand, the tips glowing green with power. The very same trident that had been burned into the side of his son's face. Suddenly, the metal felt like it burned his hand and he dropped it, staring at him in horror.

"Tartarus burned that into his face. Percy was a child of the big three so to send a message he had it burned into the side of my son's face!", Poseidon began to grow angry, but at the same time he felt unbearably sad.

 _He_ had caused this. In some ways, the fate that befell Percy was _his_ fault.

"It's okay… Calm down, uncle. Percy must be very strong to have survived all of that. He does not blame you for any of this. So why should you blame yourself?". Slowly, Poseidon's anger dissipated after Athena's words, and he sat back down again.

"This will be a whole other kind of battle than we had with Gaea", Annabeth started, "With Gaea, the entire war was about trying to keep her from waking up. But Tartarus is already awake, he is already risen. He is just biding his time until he attacks. I fear we have less time to prepare than we did with Gaea".

Faces all around became grim, as her words sunk in. They knew she was right. If they were going to defeat Tartarus, they needed help and one really good plan.


	6. Chapter 6

**POV: Percy**

After fleeing from the amphitheater, Percy flew a short distance away to the lake. He wasn't going to leave, not really, he just needed to think.

Here, he was by himself. So he let the hood of his cloak fall away from his face. He let the scars show.

Looking at himself, he hardly recognised the person staring back at him. It just made him so… _angry._

He hit his reflection in the water with his fist and turned away.

At the bottom of the lake, the naiads got scared at his outburst and swam away. All except for one.

It was smaller, somehow younger looking than all of the others. And as it swam closer to him, he couldn't help but smile at its innocence.

Gently, almost as if she was scared, she reached out and poked his foot. Just in a playful manner, but before he knew it, he found himself in the water playing a strange version of tag with the small naiad.

When he finally came up, he was smiling. A genuine smile, one he hadn't used in a long time.

Willing himself dry, he waved goodbye to the small naiad as it swam off to join the others, once again leaving him to his thoughts.

The stupid smile was still on his face when he looked down at his reflection again. But this time, he wasn't so startled by the boy looking back at him.

Percy was made immortal at age 21. He looked good. The boy staring back at him had a lopsided grin on his face that made his large scar crinkle around the edges and look less scary.

His hair fell into his eyes, reminding him that he really needed a hair cut. The smile even reached his eyes, making them seem a lighter shade of their usual churning green. Chasing away the sadness, if only for a little while.

No. He would be okay. This was him. The _real_ him. It was time for him to stop hiding.

With that decision made, his gaze travels upwards, away from the water for the first time in the entire afternoon.

The sun had long since set without him realising, and the moon shone brightly, easily lighting his path as he walked away from the docks.

Opening his wings, he relished the feeling of the cold wind brushing against the sleek feathers of his wings before letting the wind lift him up.

Finally, he reached the tall tree that he had been using to spy on the camp earlier in the day.

Up high, the branches were plenty thick and sturdy, and he had no trouble at all finding one that would reliably hold his weight.

Setting down, he retracted his wings into his back and leaned against the trunk of the tree.

Finally alone, and not in any danger of hurting anybody, he released some of his power. The branch he was on immediately froze beneath him, and a cold wind swept through dropping the temperature to several degrees below zero.

"Now that's more like it".

Content, he leaned his head back against the trunk of the tree and fell asleep.

He was accustomed to having nightmares every night, that's why he always slept high above the earth and water, that way his powers wouldn't disturb anything. But tonight he found himself in the throne room of Chaos' palace.

At first he thought that he was just reliving a memory, but then she spoke.

"Percy. I have seen what you did today with Tartarus and I am very proud".

"Thank you, my lady", he kneeled down in front of her, but she just chuckled and told him to rise.

"However, you and I both know that you will not be able to defeat him alone".

At her words he began pacing, absent-mindedly picking at the feathers in his wings.

"Because of this I am sending you Xavier. You must work together with the half-bloods, and find the main source of Tartarus' power. Destroying it is the only way that you stand a chance against defeating him".

"Of course, my lady. But, if I may, where is it?".

He had stopped pacing at mention of Xavier. He had missed his friend and working together on missions was always fun.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, Percy, but his main source of power is located deep in the pit. The unruled areas. The monsters there aren't even under Tartarus' control. Nobody has ever ventured down there before".

At the word Tartarus, the room darkened and the shadows seemed to grow longer.

Chaos put a finger to her lips signifying that he was listening.

Soon, the feeling passed, and they once again began speaking.

"Percy. I have taught you about the power of names. In this quest I want you to use this power to your advantage, hone your skills".

"But my lady. How did he even get in here? This is your palace".

She sighed and gazed out her window at Earth before replying. "He is much more powerful than I feared. You must hurry, Percy. If he launches his attack on Olympus before you destroy his source of power than I'm afraid there is nothing more I can do".

He nodded grimly, crossing his arms and readying his wings. "I will await Xavier and try to ready Camp Half-Blood as much as I can".

"Good. And Percy?".

"Yes, my lady?".

"Try to warm up to the new campers a little bit. You gave them quite a scary show yesterday".

Percy grinned under his cloak. "My lady, you forget which domain I am in charge of, I do not warm up to people, I cool them down".

"Oh stop being so dramatic. I heard your whole speech yesterday and I'm honestly curious if you actually did practice saying that".

They were both smiling now. This was like a long-term joke with them.

"A magician never tells their secrets, my lady".

He grinned again once more before she flicked her wrist and he woke up. Still in his tree, exactly where he had fallen asleep.

 **POV: Annabeth**

The meeting with the gods had gone on for longer than usual yesterday due to Percy's disturbance. And by the time they emerged Chiron had managed to gather most of the campers in the dining pavilion and was struggling to get them under control.

As soon as the gods emerged, everybody immediately stopped talking, and turned their eyes towards them. Or more accurately, towards Lord Poseidon.

Finally, someone spoke.

"We are so sorry if we have angered you Lord Poseidon. Whatever we did I assure you we didn't mean to".

All the other campers nodded their heads and stared at Poseidon anxiously.

Soon, he realised what they were talking about.

"You are referring to the huge storm that was created?".

They all nodded their heads.

"That storm was not of my doing. I am not angry, do not worry".

The campers seemed to breathe out a collective breath that they had been holding in relief. But then the full extent of what the god had said set in.

"Excuse me, Lord Poseidon. But what do you mean that storm that was created was not of your doing? It was a hurricane! Forgive me, Lord Zeus, but that is not within your domain".

The gods looked around nervously to each other.

Before emerging from the amphitheater, they had come to the conclusion that Tartarus was indeed rising, and they needed Percy's help to stop him. They hoped that Percy would be back by morning, and decided that they would let him explain what was going on.

"Do not worry. Everything will be explained to you tomorrow". The gods did not have a reply for the questions that her sibling had been asking, so Annabeth took control.

"We will have another meeting, tomorrow. In the…", she trailed off. Looking around, it was as if she was just noticing how much larger the camp had gotten. All the tables were full, and some campers were overflowing outside of the pavilion all together. "The meeting will be held in the amphitheater tomorrow".

Chiron threw her a questioning glance, but she ignored it.

"Now, let's just have a nice dinner. Everything will be explained tomorrow"

The younger campers followed her orders without question, but some of the older ones continued to look at her skeptically before finally returning to their food.

The gods had decided that they would not be staying for dinner, but before they left Annabeth approached Apollo.

"Excuse me, Lord Apollo. But… well… Percy _will_ be coming back tomorrow, right?"

He looked down at her, an unusually tense look on his face before he replied, "I'm sorry, Annabeth but I just don't know. Prophecy doesn't work like that, I can't pick and choose what I see".

She nodded her head in understanding and stood nearby and watched as the gods gathered together and disappeared.

 _If Percy didn't come back tomorrow…_

She shuddered. They would solve that problem when they came to it.


	7. Chapter 7

**POV: Percy**

When he awoke the next morning the sun was already shining through the branches of the trees.

With a flick of his wrist, his temporary cold sanctuary melted away, and he stood up, flexing his wings.

From here, he could see all of camp. Most of the campers were already awake and moving around their daily activities.

He smiled when he caught sight of Annabeth sitting with her siblings at their table in the dining pavilion. She was looking over something on a paper that one of them had handed her, and she had that cute expression on her face that she had when she was concentrating.

It brought back fond memories of his life before.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by a small pinprick in the back on his mind. It was as if somebody had thrown a pebble against a windowpane that was inside of his mind.

Immediately he knew what it was. Somebody was talking about him, and had used his name.

Smiling inwardly, he transferred a small amount of his consciousness to wherever it was.

Looking around, he found that he was in the Olympian throne room.

A cold burst of wind and the smell of the sea proceeded his presence, and it halted the conversation.

"What was that?".

Just for fun, he sent an extra cold burst of wind directly at Zeus' face, making his eyelashes and eyebrows coat with frost.

He could see the other gods around him struggling not to burst out laughing as the lord of the sky's face turned red.

"Who is doing this?!", he roared, looking around.

At that, the other gods _did_ burst out laughing, and that only made Zeus' face grow redder.

The small amount of consciousness that Percy had sent over walked forward until he was at the foot of his father's throne.

He touched his leg lightly, but it was enough to make him stop laughing and look straight down. Straight through where he was.

"Perseus?".

The other gods quieted and looked at him in confusion, but he was too focused on looking for his son.

Stepping back, he drew away from his father and started to withdraw his consciousness, but not before creating a snow man on Zeus' knee and leaving a little message in frost on the palace floor.

He smiled at what he had done, noting in delight the small amount of thunder that rumbled from his prank.

Shaking his head to clear it, he set his mind on the task at hand. His smile dropped. He was not looking forward to this. But it was necessary.

Opening his wings, he caught and updraft that carried him up and over the camp.

He decided just to set down at the entrance of the camp and walk through. Hopefully it would alarm the campers a little bit less than he did yesterday.

Keeping his hood up, he walked down the path that led to camp.

Soon after, he was met by three campers with spears and shields. Clarisse La Rue and two of her siblings.

Her spear maimer crackled with energy and he gave it wide berth, remembering the last time it had touched him.

"You!", Clarisse took the lead, stepping forward with her spear. "You dare come back here?!"

"Me! And yes… I do", he cracked a grin before continuing. "Clarisse. I see you're violent as always. You might want to put away that spear, though, before I'm forced to break it in half again".

He smirked as he watched her splutter. She finally settled on one question. "How do you know my name?".

Keeping his hood up, he ignored her question and began to walk forward again, "I understand there's a meeting today in the amphitheater. That meeting starts now".

Her two siblings, as headstrong and moronic as always stepped in front of him and blocked his path. "What makes you think that you can just waltz into this camp?", one of them said, sneering.

He just looked at them, bored before turning to Clarisse. "Clarisse! Call off your idiot brothers".

After a beat of silence, she waved her hand and the two stepped aside, still glaring at him.

He continued to walk down the path, Clarisse and her two brothers still trailing after him until he reached the dining pavilion where he had last seen Annabeth. Thankfully, she was still there.

Her back was facing him, but as her siblings saw him approach they tensed and took out their weapons.

Annabeth, however, was still lost in her designs.

Clearing his throat, he got her attention. "Umm… Annabeth".

She whipped around. And after seeing who it was launched herself at him and almost crushed him to death in a hug.

"I knew you would come back!".

He smiled and hugged her back before pushing her away and holding her at arms length.

"Meeting… amphitheater… now".

Her eyes widened and she nodded.

Turning to her siblings, she sent them to different parts of the camp to gather the campers and tell them that it was meeting time.

Before she ran off herself, she turned back to Percy. "What about the Olympians?".

"Don't worry, they'll be here"

He turned to face the rest of the campers still sitting at their tables eating breakfast.

"Did you not hear anything? There is a meeting at the amphitheater. Go now!".

The campers scrambled up from their seats and joined the procession of kids that was now walking towards the amphitheater.

Opening his wings, with a quick push off the ground he flew up and over the camp again, landing on top of Half-Blood Hill where he could watch and look out for when the Olympians arrived.

Just as he made that thought, there was a 'pop' sound, and the 14 Olympians were suddenly standing in front of the amphitheater.

Thankfully all of the campers had already filed it, except for one or two stragglers, or else they would have been crushed.

 _Right on time_

He flew down, stopping and waiting until they got into their seats before descending.

But Zeus apparently didn't want to wait that long.

"Well? Where is he?", his voice boomed, and did a great job of quieting the noise of conversation throughout the group.

"I'm right here, Zeus. Hold on to your panties".

Percy descended until he was set down in the middle of the amphitheater. His wings folded up, but did not disappear as he spoke.

"Hello, campers. It's good to be back. I am here to help you fight another primordial who has awoken from the pit, the husband of Gaea, Tartarus".

At his name the entire arena darkened and the shadows elongated. Just as Chaos had done, he put one finger to his lips, indicating silence until the feeling passed.

"We should avoid saying his name as much as possible. He can listen to what is being said after he is called by his name".

Percy turned in a circle, making sure that his gaze travelled over every single one of the half-bloods.

"A few of you may be wondering who I am. I am a warrior of Chaos, sent here to destroy all evil in her world".

He was interrupted by a seated demigod to his left. "Chaos? As in, creator of the universe?".

He turned, meeting the demigod who spoke's gaze. "The very same".

"Now then", he turned back around to sweep his gaze, "I have been given her blessing, and have been taught and trained by her for the last year or so".

"Some of you may have seen me yesterday. I apologise if I hurt you in some way I was looking for… someone", at his words he met Annabeth's gaze and held it. She gave him an encouraging nod before he continued.

"Yesterday, the primordial in the pit also made an appearance. He is dead set on destroying your camp, hopefully we will be able to stop him before that happens".

Once again, he was interrupted, this time by one of Annabeth's siblings, "Is he what caused that huge storm yesterday?".

Percy's eyes darkened he turned to look out to sea before answering. "No… No, that storm was caused by me".

His voice was quiet, but every single person was able to hear what he said. "Again, I apologise if I damaged anything or hurt anybody. I did not mean to, I just let my emotions get away from me. I'm sorry".

Percy turned around. "Are there any more questions before I continue?".

Most of the campers were looking at him in shocked silence, and he was about to move on before somebody spoke up. "Who are you? You've gotten through the camp's barriers so you must be a demigod or something similar". He turned until he was looking into the eyes of Clarisse.

He sighed. He had hoped that nobody would ask that question. Of course that was completely illogical, but one could hope.

There was a beat of silence before he reached up to remove his hood.

Letting it fall back against the rest of his cloak, he turned to face Clarisse.

"Do you recognise me now, little cousin?".

An audible gasp went through the stadium. He kept his face impassive, resisting the urge to reach up and cover his scar.

"Percy?", Clarisse's eyes were wide and she looked at him with such a mixture of emotions it was hard to figure out exactly what she was feeling.

He nodded his head, taking out his pen and fiddling with it in his hand nervously.

Remembering his realisation from last night at the lake, he took a deep breath and addressed the demigods once again.

"My name was Percy Jackson. I was the hero of Olympus. I gave up my life to save somebody I loved", at that he stopped, once again meeting Annabeth's eyes. "But that was my old life. My life before pain".

He gestured to his scar before continuing, "I was the son of Poseidon. I was given this as punishment. I am still the son of Poseidon. But I no longer serve the Olympians".

A gasp went through the crowd again, and Percy turned to face the gods. Poseidon's face was a mask of guilt and pain, but Zeus was just angry. Thunder rumbled overhead as he addressed Percy.

"What do you mean, you no longer serve the Olympians?!", his voice was loud, and intimidated everybody but Percy into silence.

"I swore my life to Lady Chaos. I am no longer your pawn. I still honour the power the runs in my blood but from now on we are nothing more than allies".

Thunder rumbled and clouds began to gather above the camp. The other campers looked around nervously, but Percy just flicked a wrist and the clouds and winds began to disappear.

"Now, now. We'll have none of those dramatics, uncle. Now is the time for discussion".

Percy turned, leaving a confused lord of the sky behind him. Addressing the crowd of demigods, his voice was louder.

"Does anybody have any more questions?".

"Where have you been?", the question came from somewhere on his right, and he looked over to see Nico. He was sitting near his father's feet, and as Percy looked over, he noticed that all of his friends but Frank and Hazel were present and staring at him.

He smiled and nodded at each of them before answering. "As I explained, I have been in Chaos' palace. She rescued me, trained me, gave me a second chance".

Nico interrupted him, "I meant for those two years before that".

The effect on Percy was immediate, his hands clenched, and the temperature of the entire area seemed to drop to just over freezing. His eyes swirled and turned dark, and a cold wind began to blow through the area.

His breathing got faster, and he struggled to get it under control.

Before he completely lost control, a bright beam of sunlight suddenly lit up the entire area. It was brighter than usual, and caused everybody to squint.

"Apollo! Stop this nonsense!".

"It's not me! It won't listen to me!".

Before his father could really get angry with him, the sun suddenly went back to normal.

There, in the middle of the amphitheater facing Percy was Xavier.


	8. Chapter 8

**POV: Third Person**

At Nico's question Percy completely tensed up. His fists clenched at his side and frost began to spread, radiating out from underneath his and climbing the walls.

Thankfully, before he could completely lose it, the sun went berserk and somewhat counteracted Percy's abilities.

All eyes turned to Apollo. After all the sun _was_ his responsibility.

But he claimed it wouldn't listen to him.

Thankfully, before everybody melted, the sun went back to how it used to be, and everybody was able to open their eyes again.

There, facing Percy was another boy.

They were about the same height, but the similarities stopped there.

He had extremely tanned skin, and curly brown hair. He was smiling like he didn't have a care in the world, and he would have looked like a normal camper if it hadn't been for the golden wings that sprouted from his back. They were similar to Percy's but different at the same time.

Percy's were dark, sharp, and overall looked dangerous. But the feathers on the newcomer's wings were rounder and golden in colour.

He wouldn't have looked scary at all if he hadn't been casually leaning on two wickedly sharp swords.

"Hey, scarface".

All the campers held their breaths. From what they had seen from Percy today, he was really touchy on the topic of his scar. Not to mention that he still exuded a cold dark aura that would have made any self-respecting demigod run away.

Percy locked eyes with the new boy, but he didn't flinch. Instead, he raised an eyebrow.

And just like that, Percy's fists unclenched, the arena's temperature rose back up and the winds died down again.

"And he's back!", the new boy turned around and smiled at the crowd as if they were old friends that were sharing a secret joke.

When he saw that everybody was just staring back at him with blank and confused expressions, he turned back to Percy.

"Come on, man! You didn't tell them about me yet?"

And then Percy did something that surprised everybody. He smiled. A real genuine smile that made him seem not so scary after all.

"Sorry. If you haven't heard I've been a bit busy".

The other boy just rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Chaos told me last night. You just had to be the hero didn't you. Taking on Tartarus all by yourself!".

The boy was about to continue, but Percy put a finger to his lips and shut him up as the cold ominous feeling returned.

Once it had dissipated Percy glared at him.

"What have I told you about saying people's names?!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I still don't understand that stupid name magic that Chaos taught you".

Percy rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath about human sized snowmen before turning back to face the majority of the half-bloods at camp.

They were still staring at him in awe and confusion. And he and Percy shared a look before he began to speak.

"Hello, I have come to assist you. My name is-".

Zeus finally came to his senses, then, and interrupted whatever he was about to say.

"You address me first, boy!", thunder rumbled but he didn't seem the least bit impressed.

Instead, he turned back to face Percy.

"Is this the Olympian that you were telling me about?".

Percy looked as if he were trying to hold back laughter before he answered, "Yeah".

The boy turned around and stretched his wings.

Flying up, he hovered right in front of the lord of the sky, and grinned.

But this grin was different, it was darker, and for the first time since meeting this new boy. The demigods all around the arena got a sense of how much damage he could really do.

He held out one of his swords, mere feet away from touching Zeus' nose.

Suddenly, the blade caught fire, which quickly spread up the boy's arm where it stopped.

A gasp rippled through the crowd for the third time that day, but the boy didn't seem at all fazed.

The fire cast a weird kind of light, and it reflected in his eyes giving the brown irises an ominous glow.

"Now you listen to me, _Olympian_ ", he spit out the word as if it tasted sour in his mouth and his lips curved into a slight snarl. "I will address, whoever I wish to address first. You have no control over me whatsoever", he retracted the sword, and his wings stopped moving to that he slammed into the ground. "We are allies, but that doesn't mean I have to like you".

The fire racing up his sword and arm suddenly flickered out, and his mischievous grin returned to his face.

He scanned the row of Olympians, his eyes finally resting on Hephaestus.

At the god's feet, Leo Valdez sat, fiddling with some machinery parts from his belt.

Leo had returned to camp just a year ago with Calypso. He had explained to all of the heroes how he had used the real physician's cure to bring him back to life after the explosion, and how he had continued on to retrieve Calypso from Ogygia.

Leo did not seem to notice the new boy's stare, and only looked up when he was standing above him.

Hephaestus grumbled, "Now hold on a minute-".

But the new boy did not try to attack Leo in any way. Instead, he reached out a hand for him to shake.

"You're Leo Valdez, right?", he asked.

"Yeah?". Leo was confused, but shook his hand anyway.

The new boy smiled. "I've heard a lot about you from your friend here", he said, gesturing behind him to Percy, "Nice to meet another fire kid".

With that, he turned and walked back towards Percy in the center of the arena.

Leo and his father shared a glance, but everybody quickly relaxed. Everybody but Zeus, that is. He was still grumbling about disrespect.

The new boy now addressed the crowd of demigods again. "As I was saying", he threw a pointed glance over his shoulder at Zeus, "I am the other warrior that Chaos has recruited to help with this threat. My name is Xavier, my last name is not important. I am half-blood as well, but I am not half god. I am half titan".

At the mention of their old enemies, everybody in the crowd tensed, some automatically grabbing for their weapons.

"I was bred specifically to oppose you demigods during the Titan War, and I can now crush most of you easily. I will not hesitate to do so if any of you get in my way. I no longer work for the Titans, after they lost the war, my father Hyperion, punished me, and finally I ran away. I was picked up by Chaos and now I serve her. Any questions?".

His aura had now reduced to one of warm comfort, so the demigods were less hesitant to ask him questions.

"Why do both of you have wings?"

"I have domain over all things hot; the sun, fire, the southern winds. Percy, here, has domain over all things cold; blizzards, ice, snow, the northern winds. We both have wings so that we can control the wind and wind spirits. Without them they would never take us seriously"

The demigod who had asked the question nodded, apparently satisfied, and Xavier moved on.

"Anybody else?".

"I never got an answer for my last question". It was Nico, and he was studying Percy carefully.

"What was you question?", Xavier turned to face Nico, grinning. But his expression changed as he saw how Percy was reacting.

"Where was Percy in those two years before Chaos picked him up?".

All conversation stopped and the arena became silent as all the demigods watched Percy.

Frost began to spread along the ground like menacing spider webs, and Percy's fists clenched again.

Xavier looked at Percy with a calculating gaze before turning back to face Nico.

"He was being-", Xavier was interrupted by Percy, who uncapped the pen that he had been fiddling with in his hands and hit the fully formed trident against the ground.

A shock wave travelled out from it and made the earth shake slightly, "No".

Xavier stared at him in shock. "Percy-".

"That is for me to tell".

"You can't bundle up your feelings inside of you like that. These people fought too, they'll understand". Ice cracked under his feet as Xavier stepped closer to Percy and put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, we don't need another toilet incident".

Xavier smiled slightly, and stepped back when Percy relaxed.

"Fine", Percy said. His voice was clipped off and cold, but Xavier smiled anyway.

Percy took a deep breath before he spoke, "I don't know if you all know what happened in Tartarus, so I'll tell you. When we reached the doors, Gaea's army was right behind us, our crew worked together to close them from both sides. What only Nico and I knew, was that the doors had to be closed from both sides at the same time. One person would have to stay behind. I volunteered, but I knew that Annabeth would never leave if she knew what I was planning, so just before the doors closed I shoved her through", he took another deep breath and shared a long look with Annabeth.

"Shortly after the army overcame me, but they didn't kill me. Tartarus came, he's the one who gave me this", he pointed to the scar on his cheek, "After that, I was taken to this place, I was kept in a dungeon and tortured by the remaining spirits of Kronos and Gaea. For two years I was kept in that dungeon. They tortured me with fire, and lava, and whips, and let all sorts of monsters attack me. When Chaos found me, I was just about to die, I wanted to die. She healed me, gave me a second chance, and now I'm here".

He looked around the room and met many disbelieving faces, so he continued, "I suppose it would be easier to just show you".

With that he took off his cloak and shirt, and made his wings go back into his tattoo on his back.

There was silence, total and complete silence as they all took in what they saw.

His entire body seemed to be covered in scars. Claw marks, burns, whip lash marks, they were all there. The skin on his back and chest was bumpy and uneven from scar tissue, and his chest was covered with smaller, deeper slashes that people recognised as marks from knives.

His entire body shook, it was very plainly obvious how big of a deal it was for him to show them this, but all they could do was stare.

Finally, a noise broke the silence. It was a gasp, a hiccuping gasp and it came from Annabeth who had a hand over her mouth with tears running down her face.

Poseidon had a similar reaction, he tried to stay stoic and strong but it was impossible in the face of something as horrible as that. And he didn't try to stop the tears that silently made their way down his cheeks.

Percy grasped the handle of his trident as if it were his lifeline. The area around it was frozen solid, but luckily the metal it was made out of was resistant to the cold.

He turned to face the Olympians, building up the courage and then looking his father in the eyes. He held his gaze for at least a few minutes before moving.

He knelt in front of his father, the metal of his trident swirling wildly like a blizzard as it stood tall in front of its master. It was turned so that the words that were carved into the handle were clearly visible. The writing was in ancient Greek. It spelled, 'Anaklusmos', or Riptide.

Standing back up, he walked back over and put his shirt and cloak back on. He turned, looking the son of Hades in the eye, "That's where I've been".


	9. Chapter 9

The unwelcoming cold aura came off of Percy in waves. His wings emerged, glinting darkly in the sunlight. He recapped his trident, putting the silver pen back into his pocket, and flicked the hood of his cloak back over his head, shrouding his face in shadows.

He walked to the wall of the arena, leaning against it and gesturing for Xavier to continue to explain.

"Well _okay_ then", he said, clapping his hands together. "Now that we've all seen how much Percy really doesn't like to talk about his past, let's continue".

"Last night, both Percy and I received a message from our Lady Chaos in our dreams. Through ancient laws she is forbidden from coming here herself, or else she would. She has told us that the primordial of the pit, her son, has already risen. Now, he is just gathering his army. He plans on marching on Olympus sometime within the next three weeks".

His voice had to rise in volume so that he could be heard over the voices of the demigods throughout the amphitheater who had begun to talk in horror at the news.

"Normally, it would just take one of us. But he has already risen, and he is already very powerful. Which leaves us with only one option: to destroy his main source of power", he paused here, as if waiting for a big reaction from his words, but none came.

He turned to Percy still leaning against the wall, "Tough crowd, huh?".

Percy smiled slightly under his cloak and pushed off the wall. "His main source of power is located deep within the depths of the pit, in an area known as the Unruled. Travelling down there will be very difficult, and only a team of the best demigods will be able to complete the quest".

All eyes turned to the remaining crew members of the Argo II: Jason, Piper, Leo, Annabeth, and Nico.

Leo groaned and face palmed dramatically. "Well I guess that would be us, wouldn't it?".

His theatrics made Percy smile as he remembered Leo's jokes from their original time on the Argo II.

Chiron interrupted the meeting from near the entrance where he had been standing and silently watching everything happen.

"Hold on. It is against the rules for us to send a group of demigods on a quest without a prophecy. There has been no prophecy, therefore nobody will be leaving this camp!", his words were sharper than usual, and Percy turned and looked at the old centaur in confusion.

He only stared back, a mixture of fear and reluctance in his eyes. Percy understood.

They had just entered into an age of peace, one they hadn't had the luxury of for a long time. He didn't want to let any more of the campers that he considered his own kids go into danger unless he absolutely had to.

Percy nodded at him slightly before continuing.

"This threat is very real, but Chiron is right, we must wait for a prophecy. We will speak with Lady Chaos, and receive our next orders", as he finished he looked at Apollo, a question in his eyes.

"Sorry, guys. I got nothing. I can't control when the prophecies come to me, they just do!", Apollo said, helpless. He really did look like he wanted to help.

Everybody sighed and looked at Chiron.

"Okay, campers. As long as that's all", he looked at Percy and got a nod in confirmation, "then I need all of you to get back to your normal activities. We will have a campfire tonight to celebrate the return of Percy Jackson and the arrival of his friend Xavier. But until then… come on! Get out of here!".

His eyes twinkled in amusement as all the campers shook themselves awake and rushed out of the arena.

Now the only ones left were Percy, Xavier, the crew from the Argo II and the gods.

His friends immediately rushed over, embracing him in a hug despite Xavier's warnings.

"I wouldn't do that if I were yo—", he was cut off as Piper yelped.

"I told you", Xavier muttered, shaking his head.

Percy mumbled something that sounded like "sorry" as he reached up and pulled down his hood.

"Give me a second to warm up, guys".

"So…", Xavier started, giving Percy a look.

"Oh, right. Xavier, this is Jason, Piper, Leo, Nico, and Annabeth", he pointed at each of them in turn, but his eyes hovered slightly longer over Annabeth.

Xavier gave him a look and he turned bright red.

"Let me guess, son of Zeus, daughter of Aphrodite, son of Hephaestus, son of Hades, and daughter of Athena".

Everybody looked at him in surprise, "Nah, I'm just messing with you. Percy's told me all about you guys", he said, chuckling. "What he didn't tell me about, was you".

His eyes turned to Annabeth who looked confused. "You forgot about me, Seaweed Brain?".

She joked, but there was a small hint of sincerity in her voice as she turned to look at Percy. "Of course not!", he reached out to touch her before remembering that he couldn't.

Xavier just cracked up in delight. "I knew it! Percy's got a girlfriend!".

Percy turned bright red before whacking him over the head. "Warm me up real quick, would you?".

Xavier was still smirking as he reached out and touched Percy's arm. Immediately they were surrounded my steam and completely covered their bodies. But soon they emerged, and Percy went straight to Annabeth.

He brought her lips to his and they kissed while all their friends made disgusted sounds while Piper 'aww'ed.

"Yeah. I do have a girlfriend", Percy tightly reigned in his aura, and made it so that he was warm enough to wrap his arm around Annabeth's waist as they were given the tour of the new and improved Camp Half-Blood.

There were a few new cabins of various minor gods that had been added since he had last seen it. And Annabeth and the others quickly explained how there were so many campers that they now had to rotate meals in shifts in order for everybody to fit in the dining pavilion.

When they reached Poseidon's cabin, Percy stopped. The door opened and the smell of the sea made its way out from inside.

Xavier asked him what was wrong, but Percy ignored him, taking slow steps towards his old cabin.

His friends behind him explained to Xavier what was going on. "This was his old cabin. He stayed here for four years before he disappeared.

He pushed through the door, and found his father sitting on his bed.

"Dad?".

Poseidon turned around, surprised that he had been found.

"Percy".

Percy and his father had been growing closer before he had disappeared. Of all the campers, he and his father's relationship was the closest to what a real father and son relationship should look like.

Poseidon opened his arms and Percy ran into them, feeling like a little kid again for just those few moments.

"I'm sorry, Percy. I'm so sorry", his father kept murmuring that to him until he pulled away.

Piper poked her head through the door, and Percy waved at her, telling her to continue giving Xavier the tour of the camp without him.

Poseidon had never really been the best at knowing when to talk to his son. But now even he knew that he had to say something.

"Listen son-"

Percy interrupted him, "No, dad it's okay. Really".

They shared a long look, and finally Poseidon nodded his head. "Okay… Now why don't you tell me about that trident of yours?".

With that, they moved onto more trivial matters, and the lord of the seas was assured once more that his son was still just that… his son.

 _ **A/N: Alright! Thank you guys so much for reading my story. Reviews are much appreciated. If you see any spelling or grammar mistakes, or if there's anything you would like me to add please let me know. This is my first fanfiction, so please no flames. This was just something that I initially wrote for myself on the airplane on my way home from vacation so please review and tell me if you would like me to continue on with this story or not.**_

 _ **Thanks! :)**_


	10. Chapter 10

Soon, his father had to leave and attend to his duties up on Olympus. Leaving Percy to look around the camp to see where his friends had taken Xavier.

He walked all throughout the camp with his hood down. People still stared as he walked by, but he was slowly getting used to ignoring it. Especially when his mind was on something else.

 _Like where in the Hades' they've taken Xavier._

Finally, after walking through the entire camp and stopping to ask at least three people if they've seen them, he took to the air.

He had a hunch where they would be, and as he flew up to the cave of the Oracle and heard their voices inside he knew he was right.

"Come on… Please!".

Landing, he approached the entrance and turned the corner to see his friends attempting to woo Rachel out of her cave.

When there eyes met, her mouth formed an 'o' shape, and the others turned around.

"Percy?".

He forced a smile, "In the flesh".

She rushed forward to give him a hug, but Xavier stepped in front, remembering the last time when Percy's friends hadn't listened to him and hugged someone who's body temperature was below freezing.

"Not a good idea".

"What?", she looked around at the others for explanation only to find them laughing at her.

"Oh, real funny. Rachel just arrived back and missed the meeting and now she's out of the loop. Let's all laugh at her", she pouted slightly, only making them laugh harder.

Xavier patted her on the shoulder. "It's not your fault. Scarface over here just isn't as in tune with his new powers as I am. Touch him for anything longer than a few seconds and you'd get frostbite"

Percy rolled his eyes at the use of his nickname and shrugged his shoulders. "It gets away from me sometimes".

"Sometimes? Xavier and you literally had to equalise temperatures in a giant steam cloud before you could touch your girlfriend. I'm thinking more along the lines of all the time", Leo said, grinning and shoving Annabeth lightly with his shoulder.

She blushed, and even Nico cracked a small smile.

"Great to see that you guys are getting along", Percy grumbled.

"Come on, Xavier. We have to go. While I was running around camp looking for you guys", he shot a look over his shoulder, "I got us roped in to teaching the advanced sword fighting class some of our moves".

Xavier groaned. "You don't even use a sword".

They started walking away together towards the exit of the cave, "I told them that, but I guess using a sword in _sword fighting_ class isn't necessary".

When they arrived, Percy saw a bunch of older campers waiting for them. He recognised a few friendly faces in the crowd and nodded to them as he passed.

It was quiet in the arena when they walked in, so Xavier and he stopped their friendly conversation and shared a glance.

Percy backed up until he was against the wall, and watched as Xavier showed them a few more advanced moves that weren't Greek style.

Alone against the wall, he let some of his aura seep out, covering some of the immediate area in a fine layer of frost.

As he watched the campers try to copy the move that Xavier was showing them, he noticed that they looked distracted, and a few of them even looked over to where Percy was a couple of times before refocusing on what they were doing.

After the fifth camper looked over, Percy pushed off of the wall and addressed them. "Can somebody tell me what you all keep looking at? Because I can tell just by looking at you that none of you are focused".

They looked around at each other and lowered their swords. "It's just. We thought that _you_ would be teaching us, Percy".

Percy looked around and found them all nodding their heads.

"Why would you think that? I don't even use a sword anymore".

"What do you mean you don't use a sword anymore?".

"Did you guys not see the trident earlier?", he looked around and saw a few confused faces.

Mumbling under his breath in ancient Greek about blind idiotic heroes.

He uncapped the lid of Anaklusmos.

Over the short amount of time that he had had the trident since Chaos had given it to him, he had grown quite fond of it. The handle seemed to mould perfectly to his grip, and it was perfectly balanced just like his old sword used to be.

Xavier joined the conversation, "What? Did you think it was just for decoration or something?".

He smiled, laughing at his own joke, but the class of advanced swordsmen didn't look very impressed by the weapon.

"That thing? You gave up a sword for a fork?", another camper said from the back.

 _Son of Ares. Typical._

"Anaklusmos' new form is much more effective than the old sword that it used to be".

The son of Ares just scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Really? Why don't you and me spar, then. Trident on sword".

The others in the class backed away from him, and Xavier just gave Percy a look like he couldn't believe how stupid this kid was before he too stepped back.

"My pleasure", Percy grinned, retracting his wings into his back and taking off his cloak.

He was wearing a dark blue t-shirt that exposed his arms. They were long and lean, but muscles were clearly visible just beneath the skin.

All down his left arm was a burn, the skin there seemed puckered and tight, as if he had dipped his entire arm in fire. (Which wasn't that far off from what actually happened). His right arm was better, only marred by the occasional slash and claw mark here and there.

His grin seemed dangerous, and his eyes glinted darkly.

 _This was going to be fun._

Seeing the look in Percy's eye, Xavier stepped in between them. "Percy, don't hurt him too badly. I may not know the rules of this place that well, but if I had to guess I'd say that hurting campers that you don't like is against the rules".

Percy pretended to pout before a genuine grin covered it up. "Alright, _mom_ ".

"Hey! Why aren't you warning me?", the Ares kid asked.

Xavier looked him up and down. "I'm not warning you because you don't stand a chance".

Xavier walked over to the join the other campers who had all gathered to watch a little ways away.

"Alright, go!".

The Ares kid started circling, but Percy just looked over at his friend with a teasing grin on his face.

"Go? Who starts off a sword fight by saying 'go'?".

Percy didn't get to hear his response, as the Ares kid suddenly lunged in and Percy was forced to focus his attention on him.

The kid's sword looked relatively normal. Bronze, no gleam or glimmer of colour that would suggest it was enchanted or blessed in any way.

 _Ares didn't even bother blessing the kid's sword? Man, he must be really stupid._

He aimed a stab directly at Percy's gut, and without even flinching Percy caught the blade within two prongs of his trident and ripped it out of his hands.

It flew across the arena and landed a short distance away in the sand.

"Now if I were allowed to kill you, this fight would already be over".

The kid looked shocked for a moment, before gathering his wits again and diving for his sword.

Although he could have, Percy made no move to stop him, choosing instead to just watch as the kid dove in the sand and scrambled to get a grip on his sword.

Once again, the kid circled for a while before making a move. This time, he slashed horizontally, aiming lower for Percy's legs.

Percy deflected the blade away from him and continued his momentum to push the kid back and swipe at his arm.

The blades on top of his trident were razor sharp, and cut straight through his shirt and tore a gash in his skin.

Landing hard on his rear, the kid's sword landed away from him in the sand.

"Just stay down, Eric!", one of the campers called.

But the kid, no _Eric_ , was in no mood to listen to anybody.

He got up again, and threw a knife that Percy easily dodged before picking his sword up out of the sand.

"You should listen to your friend, Eric", Percy growled. This kid was getting on his nerves. "The battle is over, you've lost".

But he wasn't giving up that easily. "My father always says that the battle isn't over until either you or your opponent is either dead or about to be".

Percy laughed, a short, cold laugh that held no amusement. "Your father? I beat your father in battle when I was _12_. I don't think you should be taking any advice from him on how to beat me".

Eric snarled, and lunged again, this time aiming high.

Percy ducked underneath the swinging arm and came up behind him, kicking him in the back.

Eric stumbled, but didn't fall down. He whipped around, and the two exchanged a few blows before Percy's patience ran out.

He yelled, before catching and throwing away the kid's sword with his trident, and then continuing his momentum and using the butt end to ram into his elbow. As he was falling, Percy spun, and Anaklusmos came back around and caught Eric in the ribs, making a satisfying cracking sound as it did.

He fell to the ground, gasping for air and reaching for his elbow which was bent at an unnatural angle. Before he could, though, Percy was there. He stepped on it with one foot, causing the boy to yell in pain, and levelled the gleaming tips of his trident at his neck.

Blood roared through his ears, blocking out all sounds except for the beating of his own heart.

In a mini explosion of power caused by Percy's anger, the temperature of the area suddenly dropped to twenty below zero, and frost and ice covered the ground and the boy whose arm he was stepping on.

He watched in an almost sick fascination at his trident made a small cut in the boy's neck, and a small amount of blood dripped from the cut.

"Stop!". His friends voice cut through the haze of his anger and brought him back to reality.

The temperature stopped dropping, and Percy's rage filled eyes looked up to meet his friends' golden ones.

Xavier shook his head, and Percy's gaze travelled to the campers that were behind him, being kept warm by some of Xavier's own aura.

Only the area around him had been spared from the sudden drop in temperature, and suddenly the red colour of anger that had clouded his vision disappeared.

He stepped off of the boy's arm, earning another yell of pain, and returned the trident to his side.

He breathed deeply, struggling to get his aura back under control. Slowly, the temperature returned back to normal, and he opened his eyes.

The boy, Eric, was still laying on the ground, holding his broken arm and groaning in pain.

He gave a short nod to Xavier to signal that he was alright, and addressed the campers who had slowly come out from behind Xavier.

"As I said before, you would have been better off with him. I don't train with swords anymore. All I train for is how to defeat them. Xavier is the best swordsman I know. He will be a better instructor for you".

Xavier handed him back his cloak with a grateful nod. Percy put it back on, almost sighing in relief when he was able to put the hood up and hide his face from view.

" _Okay_ then. Why don't we continue with what I was showing you earlier? You two, help Percy carry Eric to the infirmary", Xavier's voice was more curt than it had been earlier, and he gave a satisfied smile as the campers rushed to do what he had said.

When the two campers who were to help Percy carry Eric walked over, they stared at him wide eyed.

They looked young, younger than the others at least. Percy had always had a soft spot for younger children.

He gave them a small smile and let the hood of his cloak fall away from his face again.

"It's okay. I won't bite", they didn't seem convinced, but continued to walk forward anyway.

When they made it to the infirmary, Percy recognised a familiar face.

"Will!".

Will Solace was the Apollo cabin's best healer. Everybody liked him. It was impossible not to. The guy was just so… _nice_.

"Oh, hey Percy!".

That was another reason why Percy liked Will. He didn't treat him any differently.

"What happened to this guy?". They laid him down on a cot while Will examined his wounds.

"He challenged me to a duel because he thought that tridents were no match for swords", Percy tried to remain impassive, but it was hard not to feel a little bit satisfied.

"Well I guess you showed him. No holding back", Will's eyebrows scrunched up in concentration while he set Eric's arm.

"I did hold back. I kept disarming him, but he kept getting back up. It was getting on my nerves".

The son of Apollo shot him a look before examining the cut on Eric's neck.

"You were lucky, a few more centimetres and he'd be dead".

"And wouldn't that be a tragedy", Percy replied sarcastically.

Will shot him another look, this one more confused than anything before he walked away to grab some ambrosia.

"He'll be fine. But you need to be more careful next time, Percy. These kids are mortals, when you hurt them most of them don't get back up".

Will's words stuck with Percy as he flew back over the camp and towards the sword fighting arena.

He'd have to practice reeling in his powers more. Despite how he played it off, he'd never be able to forgive himself if he _did_ end up killing someone.


	11. Chapter 11

Soon, all activities finished and it was time for dinner.

At dinner time, it was the camp rules that you had to sit at your parent's designated tables. So, Percy and his friends had to separate when they entered the dining pavilion that night, leaving him and Xavier to stand and look.

There were so many new kids. So many new tables. His father's table was near the middle, right next to Zeus and Hera's tables. But he was no longer sure if he belonged there.

And there was no table for the children of Hyperion.

So, after getting their food, they left the dining pavilion and walked down to the beach.

Since Xavier had dropped in earlier that day they had never really had the chance to catch up on each other's whereabouts for their first few months of freedom.

Apparently, Xavier had been in the Middle East in Syria when he had had the dream from Chaos.

He told Percy stories of his travels. How when he would fly through some places, he would look down and see land torn apart by bombs, and yet sense no evil. And in other places there would be large sparkling mansions and his senses would be so clogged and overwhelmed he didn't know which direction to turn.

Finally, after talking and finishing eating they just sat in companionable silence. The waves gently lapped at the shore and for the first time since getting his new powers the ground underneath where Percy sat did not freeze over.

But then the calming peace was disrupted by the sound of the conch shell followed by the sound of hundreds of pairs of feet all running towards the bonfire pit.

Percy and Xavier turned to each other and grinned.

"Bet I can beat you there!", Xavier said, getting a running start and taking off.

Percy's wings extended and he took off, he gained on Xavier with two powerful strokes of his wings, and called on the winds to carry him the rest of the way.

They landed, with Percy in the lead and Xavier not far behind.

The fire had just started to grow when the two landed, bringing behind them a flush of dissipating winds and put it out.

"Percy!", Annabeth yelled as the fire sputtered out. "Do you know how long it took me to start that?".

"2 seconds. Leo is standing right behind you".

"Thank you! She wouldn't let me start it, she insisted on doing it herself", Leo looked slightly miffed at this which caused Percy to smile a little bit.

"Relax guys, I've got this", Xavier said.

He had been anxious to release his aura all day, but couldn't because of the danger that he might set something on fire.

He didn't hold back now, and just as the rest of the campers were coming over the hill, Xavier exploded into a white hot human-sized fire ball.

"Hades!", Percy yelled, jumping around as a part of his arm caught fire. He quickly put it out with a hiss of steam, but he still looked up at Xavier indignantly.

"Come on, man! That was my good arm!", he cried, waving his right arm as close to Xavier's face as he dared to get.

Leo snorted, "Your good arm?".

Oblivious, Percy continued, "Yeah! I wouldn't have minded so much if he burned my other arm, it already looks like I tried to deep fry it. But this one only had three or four scars on it!".

They all just looked at him blankly.

"Do you even hear yourself right now?", Annabeth asked, cracking a grin.

He made a 'humph' sound and they all turned to watch as Xavier launched himself into the pile of firewood.

The dry wood immediately went up in flames and the campers cheered as they all came streaming in.

Xavier sighed as he let more of his aura through while he sat in the heart of the fire.

"Hey, Perce? I think I'm just going to stay in here for a little while. My power's been bottled up inside of me all day", Percy nodded in understanding before ushering all the campers back a safe distance.

"Okay! Go for it!", he yelled.

The bonfire pit suddenly erupted into a white hot column of molten flames. They could feel the heat from it singe their eyebrows even from 100 meters away.

Soon, the fire died down and sputtered out, and all that was left of the wood was a scorch mark in the earth with Xavier sitting on his knees right in the middle.

"Um… Is he okay?", somebody called from behind Percy.

"Yeah, yeah. He'll be fine. He's just had to restrain himself all day because he was around you guys".

Right on cue, Xavier got to his feet with a grin on his face. "Man! That felt good!".

More wood was collected, and soon the bonfire was back underway again. In a little bit more of a controlled fashion.

Xavier had been pulled to the side by some kids of Apollo who had powers over the sun, so Percy went and pulled Annabeth away from the rest of the crew.

They sat together on a log by the fire, simply holding hands.

"I never gave up hope, you know", she whispered to him.

His gaze was drawn away from the fire and he looked down at her face.

Her eyes were misty from unshed tears, and he pulled her closer to him.

"Hey, hey, hey… What's brought this on?". He used his thumb to brush along her cheekbones and catch any stray tears that escaped.

"When you disappeared. We kept looking, all of us. But after those first two years, when you suddenly disappeared and Nico couldn't feel your soul anymore…", she shuddered despite the heat of the nearby fire.

"I'm sorry, Annabeth. Truly, I am. But you and I both know it had to be done".

Neither of them said what they were talking about outright.

Annabeth never really said that she wished that Percy hadn't sacrificed himself for her. Annabeth never really told him how she was depressed for a whole year after he was gone. Annabeth never really said how every night when she would get nightmares of Tartarus, she would roll over and search for him lying next to her and find only cold, empty sheets. She never really said any of these things.

But Percy knew. He could see it in her eyes.

He knew what would happen when he pushed her through those doors three years ago. But he did it anyway. He did it because he loved her.

"Annabeth…". His voice broke. How could he express all of these things with only words?

So he repeated the same words that he had said to her three years ago, "I will always love you, Annabeth".

She smiled and more tears fell down her cheeks. "I love you too, Seaweed Brain".

A stick cracked behind them and Percy smiled into the kiss.

There were muffled shouts and curses from his friends who had been trying to sneak up behind them.

"It won't come out!", Leo whisper yelled.

Xavier burst out laughing and Leo hit him over the head, "Shut up!".

"Your big plan was the splash water on them? He's the son of Poseidon!", Piper responded.

"How did he even know we were here?", Leo fired back, "It was supposed to be a surprise until someone decided they wanted to come along and spoiled it!"

"Spoiled it! Why you little-". Percy cut them off.

He and Annabeth had stopped for air a while ago, and had been listening to their friends hilarious conversation coming from the bushes behind them.

"You know we can here everything you're saying right?".

He and Annabeth barely resisted laughter as they stood up and parted the bushes to find Leo, Xavier, and Piper crouched behind them arguing about the frozen water in a bucket that had obviously been intended to be thrown on them.

"Seriously, guys!", Annabeth scolded them. "How long where you listening?".

"Long enough", Xavier snickered.

"Oh, Annabeth! I will always love you!". Leo and Xavier danced around him and spit his own words back at him in an overly high pitched voice.

Percy turned an alarming shade of red, and Piper just stood by and smirked at Annabeth knowingly.

They were interrupted from their mocking from shouts of alarm coming from the other side of the bonfire.

The group stopped what they were doing and ran, Percy already had his trident out and ready, but what they saw when they came around to the other side of the campfire wasn't an attack that they could defend from.

It was Rachel, and she was shrouded in a thick green mist.


	12. Chapter 12

Somebody had gone to get Chiron, which was a good thing, because the Oracle didn't want to seem to speak unless he was present.

Rachel stared, not saying anything. Except it wasn't really Rachel. Her eyes glowed green with power, and she seemed to hover slightly off of the ground.

Finally, the sound of galloping horse hooves was heard and Chiron cantered into the area.

As soon as he did, the oracle began to speak. It's voice was ancient, raspy, and seemed to come from everywhere at once.

 _Nine half-bloods will be the ruler of doom's demise,_

 _From inner demons a hero will rise_

 _An impossible choice will lead to destruction_

 _To a new changed life true love must make introduction._

Once she had finished, Rachel collapsed to the ground, the eerie green light leaving her body.

Some Apollo kids rushed forward to help her, leaving everybody else to ponder the words of the prophecy.

It didn't sound good.

 _An impossible choice will lead to destruction?_

 _And what inner demons? Were the eidolons going to make an appearance? Or was it something more?_

Percy was snapped from his thoughts as Chiron addressed the crowd of campers that had gathered around.

"A prophecy has been spoken! It is late. We should all now go to bed, and maybe our dreams could give us insight into what it might mean".

Percy and Xavier shared a glance. They knew what it meant. Ruler of doom? Demons? Destruction? That could only be referring to the rise of Tartarus.

This prophecy was exactly what they needed to start on the quest. And the part about the nine half-bloods only confirmed their suspicion that they would need the help of half-blood campers to succeed.

Chiron had already retreated back to the Big House, though. Apparently dead set on mulling over it himself before making any decisions.

By any rate he was right. It was too late to do anything now. The only thing they could do was go to sleep and talk about it in the morning.

The fire of the bonfire died down and then went out, and soon all the campers had gone back to their own respective cabins.

"Goodnight, Percy", Annabeth said. They were outside the door to her cabin, and even though she had said goodbye they still hadn't let go of each other's hands yet.

Percy leaned in closer. He so badly wanted to kiss her right now, but he couldn't.

Over her shoulder, Malcolm was hanging out of the cabin's window glaring daggers at him, not to mention he could feel Xavier smirking at him from behind.

He pulled away. "What's the matter?", she frowned slightly, her eyebrows furrowing in that cute way that they do when she's trying to solve a problem.

And right then, Percy just didn't care.

More quickly than before, he leaned down and their lips met. They only pulled away when Malcolm made a disgusted sound and stormed away.

"Get a room, you two!", Xavier said from behind them.

"I sincerely wish that we could", Percy replied, turning the insult back on him.

Annabeth blushed furiously, and for once, Xavier shut up.

"Goodnight. I love you". This time he actually let go of her hand, and he and Xavier walked off together towards the forrest.

Xavier made fun of him for practically the entire walk there. Taunting him by making kiss noises and mocking what he had said in a fake high-pitched voice.

Overall, he made Percy so embarrassed his skin actually began to steam.

Finally, they reached where they had planned on camping out for the night.

There was an area, in the far corner of camp where the forrest met the beach. This was where they had decided to sleep.

When they were sleeping, they had almost no control over their powers. It would leak out in big bursts and then sometimes not at all.

Because of this, Percy was forced to sleep somewhere where he wouldn't be in danger of hurting anyone via flash freeze. And Xavier was forced to sleep somewhere where he wouldn't be in any danger of burning anything down and starting fires.

This place was perfect for that. Percy would sleep high up in one of the trees, far away from the reach of the spikes in his aura. Xavier would sleep completely surrounded by the sand on the beach. Sand wasn't flammable, however it wasn't uncommon for him to wake up some mornings completely surrounded by smoking newly formed glass.

Normally, choosing a spot to sleep wouldn't be so difficult for Percy. But his powers tended to react rather… violently with his emotions. So every night, when he was forced to relive those two awful years of torture, he tried to separate himself as much as possible from his domains of power.

High up above the ground and away from any water.

That night, despite the fact that Percy must have been almost 100 feet above sea level, the waves seemed to crash on the shore with just _that_ much more violence.

His nightmares were the worst that they've ever been, rivalling those that came to him during his first few days after waking up after Chaos first rescued him.

His gaze flickered in and out, falling, falling, for 9 whole days he was just falling.

It flickered again, he was screaming, his arm felt like it was being ripped off and was slowly being burned away.

A voice rasped close to his ear, causing him to flinch, "That will teach you to complain of your injuries, boy". The presence laughed as he screamed out again, begging it to stop.

It changed again. Now he was running, he felt like he was always running. He could hear them gaining on him, an entire pack of hellhounds, told to rip him to shreds if he was found. They pounced, and an unimaginable pain ripped through his back as though he was being cut in half while still conscious.

Finally he awoke, he was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. Once he realised that it was a dream, that he was awake now and none of that was real, he began to calm down.

The entire top of the tree that he was sitting in was frozen solid, each leaf and branch coated in an inch of ice and frost. The bough that he was sitting on groaned beneath his weight, made brittle from the sudden ice flashes.

He opened his wings and flew away from it before it could snap and break off altogether. As he flew, he struggled to reign in his power, but it was uncontrollable. Much like his control over water it did not want to be tamed.

When he arrived at the beach he found that Xavier had had a similarly rough night.

In the area where he had laid down to sleep in, huge shards of glass radiated outwards in random spikes. Some of them completely clear and cool, and others still hot and molten, forming and running like lava.

Xavier himself was nowhere to be found. Any footprints or markings that he had been there at all being swept away by the wind and surf a long time ago.

It didn't surprise him that Xavier was already gone, the sun was rather high in the sky, as it was somewhere around 8 in the morning, and he often rose as the sun did. Something he shared with the Apollo campers.

He felt tired and rundown, and his scars ached as if dreaming about them had made them reopen again.

Tartarus was trying to get to him. And it was working.

When he reached the dining pavilion for breakfast he hit the ground a little bit harder than he intended to, drawing everybody's attention from the loud sound that was made when his feet hit the ground.

The dark and the cold seemed to radiate off of him in waves, and as he walked through the dining pavilion everybody parted around him.

He found Xavier sitting at a table with a couple of Apollo kids from last night.

"Come on. We're talking to Chiron", Percy said, interrupting what looked like a fascinating conversation about the sun.

"Well good morning to you too, sunshine", he said, turning around and smiling.

His smile disappeared when he turned around and saw Percy.

"Hey, you okay? You look terrible".

Percy's eyes flashed dark. "Nightmares. Haven't had ones these bad in a long time".

He rubbed the large burn mark on his left arm, and Xavier's gaze flitted to it for a second before coming back up to meet Percy's eyes.

"Do you want to talk about-".

"No", Percy's voice was cold and hard, and he took his hand away from the scar on his arm.

"Come on. Let's go".

Xavier looked at him curiously for a moment before nodding his head slowly and following.

Percy had already begun to walk out of the dining pavilion, his cloak billowed out behind him and spread a cold wind that made shivers run down people's back.

The further he walked the colder the area around him became until his boots started to crunch on ice that had formed on the floor.

"Reign it in Scarface!", Xavier called to the boy ahead of him.

Percy stopped and the entire pavilion seemed to hold its breath.

Finally he took a deep breath and waved his hand, causing all the ice to melt away.

"Sorry. My bad".

There was another beat of silence where he seemed to compose himself before he walked out, the sound of his boots echoing around the silent room.

Once he had gone conversation started up again, and Xavier hurried to catch up.

"Hey! Wait up!", he opened his wings and glided down the hill until he was next to Percy.

He landed in front, and forced him to look him in the eye.

"What the hell was that?"

"It's nothing. I'm fine".

Xavier wasn't convinced, but they had already reached the Big House.

Inside, they found Mr. D and Chiron in his wheelchair form playing Pinochle.

Mr. D looked up from his cards and gave a dramatic sigh before saying "What do you brats want?".

Xavier winced as Mr. D's Diet Coke froze over.

Mr. D's eyes widened slightly but before he could say anything Percy was talking to Chiron.

"Chiron, you have your prophecy. We need to start on this quest as soon as possible. We need you

Mr. D's eyes widened slightly but before he could comment Percy turned to Chiron.

"Chiron, you have your prophecy. We need to leave, now".

"I understand your desperation, Percy. But I just don't know. I just need more proof before I can let some of the campers be put in danger". Chiron showed his cards up on the table and Mr. D groaned.

"Tartarus himself appearing and telling you he would burn the camp to the ground wasn't proof enough for you?".

Chiron tensed at his cold tone of voice, and Xavier stepped in.

"Chiron, sir. I understand that you're more reluctant to let more of the campers go since you thought you lost some of them in the Giant War. But time is of the essence here, and whether we like it or not we must act".

Xavier's approach at comfort seemed to be more effective with Chiron, and finally he gave in.

"Fine. I will approve this quest. The meeting with the cabin leaders will be held shortly".

"Good. Thank you, Chiron", Percy's voice was clipped and curt, and Xavier looked over at him confused.

From what Percy had told him, the centaur, Chiron was like a second father to him. He couldn't imagine why he would be so formal.

But then Xavier looked at his eyes as Percy was staring at the old centaur, and he was almost startled. They looked haunted, sad almost, like he was reliving memories of his life before.

They made eye contact and Xavier raised an eyebrow, but Percy just shook his head and turned on his heel and left.

"I'm so sorry, Chiron. He had some bad nightmares last night and-".

"No, no. It's fine", Xavier looked back at the old centaur and was surprised to find him staring at the door with a sad look in his eyes.

"The pain that he has gone through is unspeakable, and it is something that he needs to work through and heal from on his own".

Xavier knew that he was right. Percy _had_ made progress. He smiled as he thought back to the time when he had first met Percy back in Chaos' Palace.

 _Flashback:_

 _I groaned as I was woken up from my sleep._

 _I heard yelling and screaming and I shot out of bed and was already reaching for my sword before I realised where I was._

 _My heart beating unnaturally fast, I focused on the sound and tried to tell where it was coming from._

 _The boy down the hall. He was at it again. Every night since I had come here a few days ago the boy in the room down the hall from me had woken me up with his screaming._

 _Nightmares._

 _Another blood curdling scream came from his room and I had to remind myself again and again that he was just dreaming and he wasn't actually being hurt._

 _The problem was it sounded so real._

 _Especially tonight. He seemed to be louder than usual tonight, and another sound accompanied his screaming._

 _I listened, it was a strange sort of groaning. Not like a sound that would come from a person but rather resembling the sound of bending metal._

 _It was coming from my bathroom._

 _I got out of bed and walked inside, my barefoot felt cold on the marble floor._

 _I focused in on the sound and realised that it was coming from my toilet._

 _My toilet?_

 _Reaching over, I lifted the lid and peered inside. Nothing out of the usual here—_

 _Suddenly a large stream of water burst from inside of the toilet and blasted me straight in the face. It was so powerful that I was knocked onto my rear in a steadily growing puddle of water on the bathroom floor._

 _The yelling from down the hall seemed to get louder, and I realised that he must be the cause of my toilet exploding on me._

 _I was soaked, and mad. So I marched down the hall, leaving wet footprints behind me and pushed into his room._

 _Lady Chaos had warned me never to come in here. She said that the boy had been badly injured before he was rescued, and had many scars that were still healing that he was embarrassed about._

 _But I didn't care, scars didn't scare me. I had a few of my own and I knew that someone's scars just showed how strong they were._

 _The more pain that somebody can stand the more you should be scared of them._

 _My father had always told me that._

 _My father._

 _I scowled as thoughts of him came flooding back into my mind._

 _My hand suddenly caught fire._

 _Damn. I can't let myself get out of control like that. Not again._

 _My thoughts saddened, but what I saw when I pushed through the door to the boy's room saddened me even more._

 _He was pale and his raven black hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat. He was yelling, and tears ran down his face. He was holding his back as if it was hurt, but as far as I could see there was nothing there._

 _Water was trickling into the room from the bathroom, telling me that his toilet had exploded as well._

 _He looked like he was in pain, and his entire body seemed to be covered in scars. Some white an faded as though they were old, and others still pink and heeling, like they had just been inflicted._

 _I rushed over to where he lay, twisting his body this way and that._

 _I shook his shoulders hard and firm, and his eyes popped open._

 _I could tell that they used to be a beautiful shade of green, but now they were clouded and dark, and tears streamed out of them in pure pain and misery._

" _Wake up! It's just a dream. Wake up!"._

 _His vision seemed to clear and he seemed to notice me for the first time._

" _Who are you? What are you doing here?". He seemed suspicious, looking around the room as if an army were about to charge in any second._

" _I'm Xavier. I was sleeping in a room down the hall until you exploded a toilet in my face!"._

 _I scowled at him, and he glared right back. But then he did something I never expected him to do._

 _He smiled._

 _End of Flashback:_


	13. Chapter 13

Percy marched out of the Big House. He knew that they were going to talk about him once he was gone, but he just couldn't bring himself to care.

He couldn't focus.

Every time he blinked or closed his eyes the images from his nightmares were there, threatening to pull him back under.

Making his way onto the path, his feet instinctively turned towards the beach.

The rhythmic waves on the shore and salty wind would help him clear his head.

When he reached the beach he let the hood of his cloak fall back so that he could feel the sea spray on his face.

A cool wind blew off the water, and the waves seemed a little bit more unruly than usual. He didn't know whether that was his father's doing or his, but he liked it.

He'd always loved the unruliness of the ocean. How it never wanted to be tamed. How it seemed and acted like it was a living thing all to itself.

He took a deep breath of the salty air and immediately felt himself relax slightly.

Lady Chaos' voice echoed in his mind.

" _Breathe deeply, open your mind and extend your aura. Grasp each element one by one until they are all under your control"._

Opening his eyes, he looked around and saw nobody else around.

Satisfied, he took off his cloak and set it beside his shoes on the beach. Of course whatever he was wearing stayed dry no matter what he did, but he didn't need the extra bulk while he was concentrating.

Before they had left Chaos' Palace. She had been training them on controlling their powers. Of course Xavier picked it up right away, the master of suppressing feelings. But Percy had a little bit more trouble.

His powers had always seemed to react with his mood and emotions. And with the new abundance of powers that Chaos had bestowed upon him as a gift, he knew they were just as dangerous as they were helpful.

He sat down on the beach, sitting cross-legged in the slightly wet sand.

As the waves rolled up the shore, they seemed to part around him, leaving him to focus on training his mind.

Attempting to remain immobile and impassive, he willed the waves to get bigger, larger, more violent.

They responded, growing larger before they crested and finally crashed down on the shore.

He allowed the spray to wet his face, enjoying the reenergised feeling that he got when the water touched his skin.

Next he focused on his connection to the Earth, concentrating on a specific area off to his left until it cracked under an invisible pressure, making the entire area around it rumble and shake.

He maintained both the large waves of the sea and the shaking of the earth and tried to extend himself to grab control over his third power.

An icy wind swept through and covered the shoreline with frost. Dark clouds began to gather overhead and the wind began to blow in faster and more insistent gusts.

This was the farthest that he'd ever been able to stretch himself before. Controlling his powers had always been a challenge, so he had begun to mentally train himself.

He had been doing this with Chaos for a few months when he was still in the palace, but he'd never had access to so much of his natural element before. The power that surged through his veins was both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

He was about to keep going, push himself even farther, but he was disrupted by the sound of voices coming from behind him on the beach.

"What do you think he's doing?".

"I don't know. Yoga?"

"Yoga?".

"That's the only thing that I can think of. Who just sits in the middle of a storm like that?".

He recognised the voices of the twin brothers Travis and Connor Stoll from the Hermes Cabin.

He tried to block them out, to focus back in on his powers, but the wind kept carrying their voices over the water and towards him.

Getting frustrated, he willed the waves on the water to crash against the shore more violently than before, trying to drown out the sound of their voices, but they just talked louder over the noise.

"We should go get him, the meeting will be starting soon".

He felt his powers began to slip from his grasp, and the earth began to rumble again, sand from the beach falling through the cracks that were forming.

He struggled for control, grasping desperately for the reins that always seemed to appear in his mind.

The clouds gathering overhead seemed to get darker, and lightening flashed.

Percy had created his own mini storm. As the twins watched, the effect that Percy was having on the ocean and the earth seemed to abruptly stop about 200 meters away from where he was now standing.

"What in the Hades is happening right now?", Travis asked.

"Percy! Come on! We have to go to the meeting!".

Connor Stoll's voice seemed to cut through all the wind and the noise and straight through him.

His concentration broke, and the mini storm that he was controlling exploded outwards.

In one massive wave all the tension that Percy had been controlling within the water was released, and it curled and slammed into the shore with a loud crash, spraying water everywhere and soaking the twins who were standing on the beach.

The earth gave one last horrible tremor before it seemed to snap back into place.

Even the storm clouds that had gathered in the air seemed to begin to dissipate. The venti flew around, angry that they hadn't been released before chasing after the clouds. The temperature seemed to rise back up to normal, and the frost along the shoreline was taken out to sea by waves that had returned to normal size.

Percy was slumped on the ground, more than a little bit exhausted after exerting that much energy.

Once he was ready, he stood up and walked over to his stuff, which had stayed dry throughout everything and put his cloak and shoes back on.

Through the noise, he had been able to tell that Connor and Travis had come to pick him up for the meeting.

Looking around the beach, though. He didn't see them anywhere.

 _Maybe they'd already left?_

Percy didn't know, and some part of him was angry with them for disturbing him right when he was about to gain control.

Opening his wings, he took off flying towards the Big House. 

When Percy arrived most of the head cabin leaders were already there. He looked around and saw a few familiar faces among them. Katie Gardner from the Demeter cabin, Will Solace from the Apollo cabin, Clarisse from the Ares cabin, and of course all of his friends who were each the head counsellor for their respective cabins. Excluding Leo, who had decided to share the role of head counsellor along with Nyssa.

When he walked into the room he put his hood down and silently walked over to lean against the wall across the room from Xavier.

Xavier looked over, and looked like he wanted to say something, but Chiron spoke first.

"Hello, campers. I think you all know what this meeting is about. Last night, we received a prophecy, and after much deliberation, I have come to the conclusion that the prophecy speaks of the quest that Percy and Xavier warned us about".

Percy was about to stand up to speak when the door opened, interrupting him.

Everybody turned to look as two soaking wet sons of Hermes walked through the doors.

Travis had frost and ice blasted across half of his face and coating his hair, making it stand straight up as if he'd been electrocuted.

Connor had dirt and mud covering the entire lower half of his body, almost as if he'd been stuck in the dirt and forced to crawl his way out.

Around the room everybody held back snickers.

"What in the Hades happened to you two?", Annabeth asked.

"Why don't you ask your boyfriend", Connor replied as the two made their way over to their seats.

Annabeth turned to look at Percy while others around the table just laughed.

"I had it under control. They made me lose my concentration", Percy shrugged and tried to keep his face impassive, but even he was barely holding back a smirk at the ridiculous appearance of the two.

Travis snorted. "Under control? You were just sitting on the beach with your eyes closed while everything around you went to hell".

At his words Xavier looked up from his spot in the corner of the room.

"Percy, you were actually training?", he pushed off of the wall and grinned at him.

"He didn't look like he was training much to me", Travis grumbled, trying to straighten out his hair.

"Trust me, it's hard work. The forces of natural disasters don't like to be controlled".

"Forces of natural disasters?", Katie Gardner spoke up. She was trying to help Travis get the ice out of his hair, but he kept moving his head out of her reach.

"Yeah, you know… my father's domain. Have you guys ever actually listened to his titles? Storm bringer, earth shaker…", Percy grinned, "I'm the son of the god of mass destruction, baby".

His grin held no amusement, only a dark sort of enjoyment. It worried and actually kind of scared Annabeth. She hadn't seen a look like that in his eyes since they faced Akhlys in Tartarus three years ago.

Xavier turned to Percy, "So how did it go?".

"It was going really well actually. I had all three elements under my control, I was going to try and take it farther, but these two idiots interrupted me".

Xavier grinned at him. "And you didn't kill them? I'm proud of you, Perce", he slapped him on the shoulder but Travis interrupted again.

"Kill us?", he paled a bit.

"Percy's powers aren't as tightly controlled as mine are, they're more tied to his emotions. If he was training and you annoyed him by interrupting him, the fact that he was able to reel in his powers and not hurt you shows real progress".

"Remember the last time I tried to train in Chaos's palace, Xavier?".

Percy was smirking, and when he brought it up Xavier scowled.

"Hey! That is not funny! I almost got sucked into the void because of that big hole you blasted in the side of the palace. The void!"

Percy cracked up, and even the others around the table looked amused.

"Can we please get back to the matter at hand", Chiron interrupted, though even he had cracked a smile.

"Of course. Sorry Chiron", Percy shook his head and the grin faded from his face.

"The primordial of the pit, Tartarus, has risen".

There was an undignified squeak from Leo, and the others just stared at him dumbly.

"Has risen? As in, is already awake and ready to attack?", Jason asked.

Percy nodded. "He is much more ruthless than his wife, Gaea was. And he's out for revenge. We do not have much time before he and his army march on Olympus. If they do… If we allow them to attack then we stand no chance".

"We can still fight. We can't just give up before we've even tried. We defeated Gaea and we can defeat her husband too", Jason said.

There were a few cries of agreement around the room.

"No. It is impossible to defeat Tartarus in the way that we defeated Gaea. So we must make a different approach".

The campers settled down again and looked at Percy intently as he explained the plan.

"Every primordial has a main source of power. If we destroy it, then Tartarus will be too weak to ever attempt to rise or materialise outside of the pit ever again".

"Well what are we waiting here for? Let's go destroy it and get this over with".

"That's the plan. But there is just one problem. Tartarus' main source of power is located within the pit itself, in an area known as the Unruled. Nobody knows what's down there, the creatures that live there don't even follow the commands of Tartarus himself".

The room was silent, and Percy looked around, making sure to meet everybody's eyes.

"This quest is extremely dangerous. From the prophecy, we are at least able to make out the fact that we need to send nine half-bloods. That is what this meeting is about. We need to decide which campers will be going on the quest".

Percy leaned back against the wall, and watched as the head counsellors looked at each other.

"That's easy! The crew of the Argo II should go".

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. I don't see you volunteering, Clarisse. Why should I have to go again? I literally just came back from the dead!".

"No, Leo, she's right", everybody turned to look at Annabeth, surprised. "We were the ones who defeated Gaea. If it had been any other group we wouldn't have been able to do that. We've had success with defeating Primordials before, we're the best group for the job".

The others around the table nodded their heads and Leo groaned.

"I just rescued the love of my life from a cursed island, though!".

Percy stepped forward again. "If you want, Leo. We can replace you with somebody else and you could stay behind with your girlfriend".

"Replace me! Leo Valdez cannot be replaced!".

Percy grinned, "Alright then, looks like we have our crew!".

"Hold on a minute. That's only six. The prophecy says nine".

"You forgot to count Frank and Hazel over in Camp Jupiter", Piper said.

"But that's still only eight campers!", several counsellors around the room sat forward in their chairs anxiously.

"No, it's nine. Xavier is coming as well". Percy pushed off the wall and began to make his way towards the door.

"Xavier can't come, though. He's not a half-blood", Clarisse said.

Percy stopped walking. He turned around and his eyes flashed darkly as he glared at Clarisse. "Xavier _is_ a half-blood. He is half titan, half mortal".

Xavier stepped forward for himself off of the wall. "I _am_ going on this quest. Lady Chaos has demanded it. We are the guardians of the Earth, if both of us do not go on the quest, then it is doomed to fail".

"Well _somebody_ thinks they're all that", Connor muttered to his brother.

Xavier's normally calm, easy-going demeanour faltered for a moment as he glared at the two brothers.

"I try to hold back when I'm around you guys. But insult me again and I won't hesitate to reduce you to a smoking pile of ash".

His usually swirling golden/brown eyes flashed and turned gold as they seemed to burn with restrained power.

Connor scrambled back under his gaze. "He's just as crazy as his dad!".

Percy just had time to mutter, "Oh no", before the temperature in the room shot up.

"Do _not_ talk about my father to _me!_ ".

Xavier's body caught alight, and all the campers on that side of the table scrambled up and away.

Percy stepped forward calmly. Coating his body in an aura of cold and ice so that the heat wouldn't affect him, "Xave, calm down".

"Do you not think that I _know_ how crazy my father is? Do you not think that I have _experienced_ _exactly_ how crazy he is?!".

As he spoke his eyes were sad and hollow, and the carpet at his feet began to smoke and catch on fire.

"Xavier!", the sharp tone of Percy's voice made his eyes snap up and meet his.

"I know! I understand. Just calm down".

Percy pulled him in for a hug, knowing that the physical contact was the only thing that would be able to calm him down.

Their two auras met and competed, making the area between them glow purple.

Xavier glowed white hot once more before his temperature dropped and his eyes returned to their usual brown.

"Are you okay now?".

He nodded, and Percy sighed in relief before he turned around.

"Xavier has been excluded here since he arrived, just because his father was a titan.", he spoke quietly, but his voice radiated anger and the others were silent.

He seemed to direct his words mostly at the two Stool brothers and Clarisse.

"This will not continue. Clear?".

The brothers seemed to want to look at anything but him, but Clarisse was just glaring at him.

"You think you're all that since you got back! You were never like this before! Where did the old Percy go?", she asked.

"He died in Tartarus two years ago".

Percy eyes held unbelievable sadness, but they hardened as his gaze swept over the group.

"So the group going on the quest will be Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Nico, Leo, Hazel, Frank, Xavier, and me".

Percy looked over at Chiron. "Is this okay with you, Chiron?".

He nodded his head.

"Good. Xavier, come on, let's go. I know a place where you can calm down without damaging anything".

With that, the two walked out the door and left.

The room was silent for a moment before they all sat back down at the ping pong table.

"Now onto other matters. What are we going to do about Percy Jackson?".


	14. Chapter 14

Annabeth sat through the entire conversation about Percy's new powers without comment, which she thought was a pretty big accomplishment.

So what that he had new powers? So what that he was even more powerful than he was before? He was on their side. Shouldn't they want him to be more powerful?

Still she sat there, not saying a word. As long as they didn't decide to try and capture or hurt him in any way she would be fine.

Finally, to her relief, the meeting ended with Chiron saying that they would wait for the gods.

By the time they got out, it was mid afternoon, and Percy and Xavier were no where to be found.

Annabeth felt bad. She hadn't realized it, but Xavier had been slightly excluded. The only people he ever really hung out with were Percy and some of the Apollo kids.

She looked up from her thinking to see Percy sitting on the beach.

"Hey, Seaweed Brain. You okay?". She sat down next to him in the sand.

He seemed to be thinking, as he didn't seem to notice her at first.

He just stared out at the waves.

Annabeth has just resigned herself to the fact that he wasn't going to answer when he suddenly spoke, "Do you ever think about Tartarus?".

The question caught her by surprise, and she shifted uncomfortably in the sand.

He turned to look at her, then. His green eyes seemed clouded and distracted, like he was still deep in thought.

"Yeah. Yeah, I do".

She stared out at the water, memories from that time clouding her mind.

She leaned into him, and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and they just sat, staring out at the water, each lost in their own thoughts.

A couple of hours later, their peacefulness was interrupted by somebody behind them clearing their throat.

"Umm… What are you guys doing?".

They had shifted until Annabeth's head was in Percy's lap and his hand was running through her hair. They were still sitting together in the sand and watching the waves.

Percy turned to see Leo standing behind them.

"You know that everybody's looking for you guys, right?".

Percy smiled gently and looked down at Annabeth who had fallen asleep in his lap.

"Wake up, wise girl".

She groaned and her eyes opened slightly.

"It's time to wake up. We're needed for something".

She huffed as she sat up and tried to fix her hair, and Percy stayed sitting, just looking at her with love in his eyes.

"Awww! I knew you were a softie, Percy!", Leo said from behind them.

Percy turned around to glare at him, just catching the next words that Leo said under his breath.

"Apparently only with her".

Once Annabeth was ready, they walked together to Percy's cabin. He was the only one besides Nico who didn't have any siblings to share his cabin with. And nobody wanted to go into Nico's cabin.

As soon as they walked back into the main area of camp everybody was crowding around them.

"Where were you guys?".

"Where do you think they were?", Jason said with a smirk in Percy's direction.

Percy blushed red and Piper slapped him, "Jason!". Then she leaned in close to Annabeth, "Did you?".

"Oh my gods! Guys stop!", Annabeth cried, covering her face with her hands.

Percy's face looked like a tomato, and it started to spread down his neck and to his ears.

"What are you guys saying to poor Percy? This is the most I've ever seen him blush". Xavier came up to the group from the woods.

They quieted for a moment, looking at each other, before bursting out laughing again.

"Percy won't tell us where he and Annabeth have been for the past few hours".

Xavier looked over at him, "Is that so? Did you guys check all the closets?", Xavier gave him the eyebrows.

At that Percy sputtered and everybody broke out into another round of laughter.

"Can we just go please?", Annabeth asked, taking her red face out of her hands.

"Not before you tell us where you guys were".

They all looked at them expectantly, even Nico showed mild interest, pushing himself off the wall and walking over to the group.

"We were just talking on the beach for a while", Percy said, moving forward towards the door of his cabin.

"Uh huh. _Talking_. Right".

"Shut up, Leo".

Everybody walked into the cabin and sat everywhere. The cabin was only meant for two people since it was only ever he and Tyson, so most people were on the floor.

"So… What's the plan?", everybody was still smiling and laughing, and they all turned to Annabeth for the answer.

"Well we'd get there much faster if we took an airplane, but since we have Seaweed Brain here, we can't, so the next best thing is taking the train", everybody groaned. A train ride from New York to California would take at least three days, and with demigod ADHD, that would be torture.

Annabeth held up a hand, and everybody stopped grumbling and looked at her again. "Moving on, when we arrive in San Fransisco, we'll have to walk over to Camp Jupiter. Does everybody remember where it is?".

Everybody around the circle except for Percy and Xavier nodded their heads.

During the two years when they were looking for Percy after the war, they had made several trips over to Camp Jupiter to get their help in the search, and everybody in the crew had been at least twice.

"Once we pick up Frank and Hazel, we'll travel south to Los Angeles and use the entrance there to get to the Underworld. Nico, we'll need you to talk to your dad. Once we're down there, we're going to need a way to get out. He can speak to Thanatos for us and have him wait for us with the Doors of Death. This way, we won't have any problems like last time".

She locked eyes with Percy, and everybody knew that she was talking about when Percy had sacrificed himself to close the doors of death.

He nodded and gave her a small smile.

"Once we get into Tartarus is where I'm not completely sure. When we were down there we didn't go into the Unruled".

"I did", everybody stared at Percy, waiting for him to explain.

"It was one of my... punishments. I'd rather not talk about it. But I've been there".

The others stared at him, and he did a good job of hiding his feelings. He still had a shadow of a grin on his face, and if you didn't look at them for too long his eyes still seemed to sparkle like they used to.

But memories flashed behind his eyes every time he blinked, and he knew that Annabeth and Xavier could see straight through him.

"It's dark, pitch black, you can't even see your hand in front of your face. And there are monsters down there that I had never even seen before. I never made it to the source..."

He stopped and absent-mindedly rubbed at an area on his side near his rib cage.

"Never mind. I can get us there, and maybe halfway through the Unruled, but that's as far as I've gone".

Annabeth nodded and squeezed his hand gently, and he squeezed back.

It was hard for him to share that. It was hard for him to talk about anything having to do with Tartarus. Anytime he did, the images and memories just got worse. He could tell he was going to have bad nightmares that night.

"We'll just figure it out as we go along. When have our plans ever worked anyways?", Jason said, filling the silence that had fallen on the group.

Percy offered a smile, and at that moment the conch shell sounded for dinner.

The group started to get up to leave, but Piper stopped them.

"Hey guys, I was just thinking that maybe we could look into my dagger before we leave?".

Everybody stopped leaving and turned back to face her.

"You still have Katoptris?", Percy asked.

"Well, yeah. We used it a lot when we were looking for you, but it never showed anything, so I've just left it in my cabin".

"That's a good idea, Piper", Annabeth said, and she smiled.

"What's so special about a dagger?", Xavier asked.

"It used to belong to Helen of Troy. It's not really for fighting, more for seeing little bits of the future. It was really helpful during the Giant War".

Percy scoffed, "Debatable".

Xavier threw him a questioning look, but before he could ask Piper was rushing everybody out the door.

"Come on. We're already late for dinner. We have to hurry up".

The group walked across the horseshoe of cabins until they reached Aphrodite.

Even though it was dinner time, voices could still be heard inside.

"Brace yourself", Percy quietly told Xavier with a smirk.

The door opened, and a cloud of perfume seemed to float out from the open door.

Inside, Drew was standing over a new camper while she scrubbed the floor.

"What's going on here?", Piper asked as she walked through the door.

The majority of the group was still outside, as Piper had stopped right in the doorway, blocking it.

"Wh-What are you doing here?", Drew stammered.

"I could ask you the same thing", Piper glared at her.

If looks could kill, Drew would be a smoking pile of ash on the floor.

Her gaze softened, though, as she looked down at the smaller girl on the floor.

"Hi. My name's Piper and I'm the head counselor for Aphrodite. What's your name?".

The girl seemed to be younger, around 10 years old, and she looked up at Piper with big brown eyes.

"My name's Kendall. I thought that Drew was the head counselor?".

"No, honey. She just likes to pretend. I'm the head counselor. Why don't you get up off the floor and run along to the dining pavilion for dinner?".

The girl happily nodded her head and did as Piper asked.

As soon as the girl had made her way though the group gathered at the door and had begun to skip down the path towards the dining pavilion, Piper turned to Drew with a murderous look.

"What is _wrong_ with you?!".

Drew seemed to have gathered up her courage since earlier, and glared back at Piper with just as much intensity.

"Oh, there's nothing wrong with me", Drew replied, flicking her hair over her shoulder with one perfectly manicure hand.

"Why are you here, McLean?", her expression changed from angry to bored, and she busied herself by cleaning her nails.

"I have to prepare for my quest. I came to grab my dagger".

Piper was fuming. This girl somehow managed to get on every one of Piper's nerves. She couldn't be around her for longer than five minutes before getting the urge to strangle her.

At the word quest Drew scoffed. "Yeah right. Like you would ever get a quest again"

Piper was seriously considering stabbing her with Katoptris when the rest of her friends finally managed to get inside.

"I think I'm actually going to suffocate and die in here", Leo said, pinching his nose.

"Aw man, some of my feathers are pink now!". Xavier said, spinning around so his wings were no longer stuck in make up that had been left open.

Percy resisted the urge to bust out laughing as Xavier tried to get the stuff out.

Thankfully, Jason was actually paying attention and went to stand by Piper, discreetly taking the knife out of her hand.

Drew's eyes widened as she looked up and saw almost the entire crew from the Argo II gathered in her cabin.

"I think you should go now. This isn't for people outside of the quest to see", Jason said.

Piper smiled to herself at the subtle insult that he had just thrown back at her.

She seemed to lose all of her courage at the sight of them all gathered together, and walked towards the door without a fight.

Once she had left and the door had been closed behind her, they all gathered on Piper's bunk and crowded around Katoptris.

At first, it didn't do anything but gleam under the light.

"Umm… Remind of what's supposed to be happening again?", Xavier looked around at the others who were still staring intently at the dagger, all silently praying for it to show them something.

Then the shining metal shimmered and disappeared, replaced by an image of almost complete darkness. Only faint silhouettes could be seen, but Piper knew without a doubt that the group of people that they were looking at was them.

The image shimmered and changed again, now depicting a swirling ball of pure black energy that was held on a sort of pedestal. A large hulking figure was rising behind it. The creature was about the size of a titan, but it was much more muscular, and held a double-edged sword that glowed with power.

They realised that the large ball of energy was inside of a cavern, when the large monster moved to the entrance of it, blocking out all of the already minimal light.

The dagger faded back to its original gleaming bronze colour, and the group sat back to look at one another.

"That was definitely the source of Tartarus' power", Percy said.

"Agreed".

"Great. So on top of it literally being in the middle of the worst part of Tartarus, there is also a giant monster guarding it with a magical glowing sword. What could go wrong?", Leo said, beginning to pull little tools and machinery parts out of his belt.

Jason sighed. "Come on guys. Let's just go to dinner. I'm done talking about the plan, we've been over it at least a thousand times". He got up and walked towards the door of the cabin, "You guys coming?".

Percy muttered under his breath, "Jason being impulsive. Now I really know that things have changed".

Annabeth heard and snorted, drawing a few curious looks from the others.

They made their way over to the dining pavilion, as they entered, his friends all made their way over to their own tables, leaving Percy and Xavier alone again, staring at the groups of demigods. Again.

Percy was about to suggest that they take their food down to the beach again when the sound of a table scraping against the floor interrupted his thoughts. It was so loud that all conversation immediately stopped and looked towards the center of the room where Jason was moving the Poseidon and Zeus tables together.

Going over to help, Percy and Jason finally go the two tables side by side, forming a rather large square table in the middle of the room.

"I just thought that since we're each only children and Xavier doesn't have a table then we could just form one large one", Jason looked up from the table to see Xavier's reaction.

He smiled. A smile so bright it rivalled Apollo's. (but don't tell him I said that)

"Thank you".

Jason nodded and walked away to go get food.

Percy looked over and raised an eyebrow at the ridiculous smile that was still plastered on his friend's face.

"What's the matter with you? You look like your face is going to split in half", he joked.

The rest of the night was filled with just that. Jokes, laughter, and genuine smiles that hadn't been seen in forever. Percy recounted stories of his old life at Camp Half-Blood before Tartarus, and Jason tried his best to explain about Camp Jupiter. And Xavier joked right along with them, for the first time in his entire life, he felt completely at peace.

Xavier had never had a true family, before. But he imagined that this is what it felt like.


	15. Chapter 15

That night, the nightmares came, just like they always did. Except these didn't stop. Percy was usually able to wake himself up, tell himself that it wasn't real and that all he had to do to make it go away was open his eyes.

But the nightmares that night were horrible, and refused to let go of his mind. No matter how much he screamed at himself to wake up, his eyes wouldn't open. He was stuck. Stuck in that horrible world, again.

Suddenly, there was a large 'boom!'. The ground shook beneath him and he suddenly felt like he had an elephant sitting on his chest.

His eyes snapped open, really open.

The sun was just beginning to rise, and it turned the tops of the clouds soft shades of pink and orange.

Percy couldn't focus on that now, though. He was too busy wondering why he was now on the floor of the forest, with his right cheek mushed against the soft dirt.

He sat up, wiping the remaining dirt off of his face and clothes and climbing out of the small crater that he had created when he fell from the tree that he had been sleeping in.

Percy slept in trees all the time, and this was the first time that he had ever fallen out of one.

He winced as he got up, he could feel a couple of broken ribs, but other than that he seemed to have gotten away from the fall without major injury.

He was now sure that Tartarus was messing with his mind, giving him worse dreams and nightmares.

Looking around, it seemed to be really early in the morning, much earlier than he would ever normally wake up. He thought about going back to sleep, but the thought of more nightmares made him get rid of that idea almost immediately.

So he began walking towards the beach.

He didn't bother with his cloak, nobody but maybe Xavier would be up yet.

The sea was calm today, gentle waves lapped at the shore, and the rising sun turned the water all different colours.

Percy sat down in his favorite spot in the sand, where he had sat with Annabeth just yesterday.

"Hey dad. So, I'm leaving on the quest today, and I know that underground isn't really your specialty but, I could really use your help".

Percy ran his hands through his hair like he always did when he was nervous.

He didn't expect his dad to answer, and he didn't, but the waves seemed to wash up farther on the shore until they were gently lapping at his feet, like a comforting dog would nudge your leg.

He gave a small smile, but it soon disappeared when the images from his nightmares began to appear right behind his eyelids again.

In all honesty, he would rather do anything else but go back to Tartarus. Every single one of his nightmares that he had ever gotten were from his time there. But he had to stay strong, for the crew.

They looked up to him to lead them, and now he realized that he had been leading them since the very first day the Argo II set sail three years ago.

He had Xavier now to shoulder the burden with him, but he knew that in the end the others would follow him over Xavier.

He sighed, and the water lapped at his ankles again. A feeling of comfort and energy ran through his body from the touch of the water.

He was tempted to get in, let the water clear his mind, but he couldn't they were leaving early for the quest, and he had to get going.

As he stood up he winced, reminded about his ribs. He shook his head to clear it, and walked onwards towards the dining pavilion.

He left his cloak off, it was back at the tree with the rest of his stuff, and he'd have to fly back later to get it.

When he approached the dining pavilion, he caught sight of his friends gathered around the newly formed square table. There were a few Apollo kids sitting at their own table, but besides them, there was nobody else there.

"Ah, there he is, sleeping beauty!", Leo called out as he saw Percy walking up.

"Ha ha very funny". Percy pulled out a chair and sat down.

He leaned forward to grab a grape from the bowl in the middle of the table, but there was a sharp pain from his broken rib, and he gasped in pain.

"Hey, what's wrong?", Xavier asked, leaning forward.

Golden ichor began to soak into Percy's shirt. He sat back again, but the damage had already been done. One of the jagged ends of his broken ribs had stuck through the skin when he sat forward.

"Damn", he mumbled, "Not again".

He lifted up his shirt so he could get a better look at the wound and everybody around the table winced.

"How'd you get that?".

Percy looked over at the Apollo table and found just the half-blood he was looking for.

"Hey, Will! Could you come over here for a second?".

"Hey, what's up Perc— Where did you get that from?". He gently touched and examined the bone.

"I fell out of the tree this morning".

There was silence from his friends behind him, and he looked back to find them all desperately trying not to laugh.

He sighed, "Go ahead".

"You fell out of your tree?!", they all laughed, only Annabeth looked even remotely concerned.

"How did you manage that?", she asked. Her grey eyes twinkled with amusement and she was suppressing a grin as she watched Will look at it.

"I had a nightmare. I tried to wake myself up but it didn't work".

"So you flung yourself off the top of the tree?". Leo was still laughing, but Xavier stopped once he heard what Percy had said.

"You couldn't wake up? Do you think it's because of him?".

Percy nodded. "Definitely".

The others sobered up. "Tartarus? In your dreams?".

"He didn't appear directly, but I've never not been able to wake up from a nightmare before. He's definitely behind this".

Thankfully, Percy noted that none of the others looked like they had lost any sleep. So it was only him being affected by the dreams.

"Well it's definitely broken". Will spoke up from where he had been crouching and examining it.

"It's not too bad, though. I'll just pour some nectar on it and it should heal right up".

Percy and Xavier shared a look, and Percy said, "Go for it".

Will pulled out a small canteen that he always had with him that was filled with nectar, and poured the golden liquid on the wound. Normally, it would have started healing up immediately, but Percy's wound hardly reacted at all, just barely shrinking around the edges.

"I don't understand", Will said, furrowing his brow in confusion. "This should have healed by now".

He looked up at Percy for answers.

"Phlegethon water. Annabeth, do you still have any?", Percy looked up to find her looking at him weirdly.

"I think I might still have that water bottle, it might have some left in it".

She ran back to her cabin to get the water bottle, leaving Percy to explain.

"The river Phlegethon runs through the underworld and into Tartarus, it has healing qualities".

"How come I've never heard about it, then? I'm the son of Apollo, I know all the different kinds of medicines".

Before he could answer Annabeth returns holding a smoking and scorched water bottle.

"I found it".

Percy took the water bottle from her with a small smile of thanks, and held up his shirt.

"You ready?", Xavier asked him.

Percy had only had to heal himself with Phlegethon water once in Chaos' Palace, and when he did he had such severe flashbacks he blacked out.

He nodded, and unscrewed the cap. It smoked, and a horrible smell came out.

He held his shirt up with one hand, and with the other held the water bottle above his wound.

Ready, he tilted the bottle and the familiar liquid fire came out. When it hit the injury it sizzled and hissed, and he groaned. The wound thankfully began to close, but Percy didn't notice. Images flashed behind his eyes, threatening to overwhelm him. His breathing came heavier, and just before he thought he would black out the bottle was taken out of his hand and the pain stopped.

He opened his eyes, his breath still coming heavy and looked down, the wound was closed and the bone was back in place, but a new scar had formed, the skin around it bubbled from the heat, just like all of his other scars.

Looking up, he saw Xavier screwing the lid back on the bottle. "Thanks".

Xavier nodded, handing the bottle back to Annabeth.

Will was back next to him again in a second, inspecting the scar and surrounding area and mumbling things to himself.

Finally he voiced one of his questions out loud for everybody to hear. "Why did that work when the nectar didn't?".

"I don't know. It just always has. I used it almost everyday for two years. Maybe my body's just used to it by now".

Percy angled himself away from Will and pulled his shirt back down.

"So you used that to heal yourself from your injuries when you were in Tartarus?", Will asked, eyeing his scars with newfound interest.

Percy laughed, but not a real laugh. It was dark and full of pain, but at the same time sounded like he found something genuinely amusing.

"Heal myself? No, I didn't heal myself. They healed me. I wanted to die more than anything in the world".

At his words everybody went silent, but Percy didn't seem to notice. He just reached across the table again for another grape.

"Hey. Where's Nico? Doesn't he have to eat breakfast?".

At Percy's words Will's head snapped around and he narrowed his eyes. Before Percy could ask, he had dashed off down to the cabins, leaving his breakfast uneaten.

"So did I ever tell you guys about this one time-", Percy started on a story, but his friends would have none of it.

"Oh no, you don't. You don't just drop a bomb like that and get to change the subject! We have to talk about this".

Percy pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fine, what do you want to know?", his tone was sharp and made it clear he didn't want to talk, and Annabeth flinched slightly.

"Are you okay?", she asked finally. Her voice was gentle, and Percy softened a little bit.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about me".

He looked around and found the entire group looking at him with varying expressions on their face. Piper and Annabeth were both looking at him sadly, Jason and Leo both looked really awkward, and Xavier nodded when Percy's gaze got to him.

Xavier already knew all that he was telling them, so he wasn't surprised.

Before any of them could say anything, though, a protesting Nico was dragged into the dining hall by Will.

"I'm not hungry!".

"I can hear your stomach growling from here. You need food! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day".

Will dumped him at their table with a plate of food and the instructions to make him eat.

Piper took these instructions very seriously, and stared at the younger boy unwaveringly until he finished his food.

"There. Now was that so hard?". Will was back, and Nico glared at him as he sat down beside him.

Nico turned to the group with a 'get out of here' look on his face, and Annabeth decided to put him out of his misery.

"We should head over to the camp store before we leave. We each need to bring as large a water bottle as possible with us while we're down in Tartarus".

They nodded, trusting Annabeth's judgement, and Nico shot her a grateful look.

"I'll be there in a minute, guys. I have to go buy the tree and get something".

Leo snickered as he remembered the fact that Percy had fallen out of the tree last night, and waved to Percy as he flew away.

An icy blast of wind caught Percy's wings, and he shot over to the edge of the camp where the tree he had been staying at was.

He didn't have many personal belongings, just a few pairs of clothes and his cloak. And after quickly stuffing them in a bag he flew back down to join the group.

When he reached the ground, he put the cloak back on, hiding the scars on his arms and neck. "Seriously. You went back to get your cloak?", Leo asked as he saw him approach.

"The mist doesn't cover up scars from mortals. They all look at me weird because of this thing", Percy said, pointing to the scar on his cheek.

The others had long since gotten used to it, and now hardly noticed it, but to the mortals it would be just as bad as the first time that they had seen it.

They had gathered at the top of Half-Blood Hill, and there were a few other people besides the ones going on the quest that were present.

Chiron and Argus were there, but that was to be expected. Will was there, also, and so was Calypso.

When he and Calypso saw each other they froze, Percy dropped his gaze and tried to skirt around the edge of the group to get around her, but Leo had other ideas.

"Hey Percy! I want you to meet my girlfriend, Calypso".

Leo came up to him with Calypso next to him, oblivious to the awkwardness that was palpable in the air.

Annabeth wasn't though. "Percy? Aren't you going to say hello?".

She narrowed her eyes at him, and Calypso saved him from having to answer, "We've actually already met".

"Really? How?", Leo was still oblivious, but then it dawned on him, "Wait. You fell in love with _him_!".

"What?!", Annabeth said, turning to Percy.

"It was way before we were together!", his face was turning red, and everybody else began to crowd around. "When I blew up Mt. St. Helens and you all thought I was dead because you couldn't find me. I washed ashore on her island. She saved me".

Annabeth was still glaring at him, but she seemed to soften when he mentioned that Calypso saved Percy.

"Don't worry, I'm over Percy. I found Leo", she turned and smiled at Leo, and they kissed.

After examining them for a little while longer, Annabeth seemed content and stopped glaring.

"Speaking of Leo… Do not die again!", she turned and pointed an accusing finger at Leo, but he just grinned.

"I won't, babe. I promise", he leaned down and kissed her once more, and she looked appeased.

"Now then, should we get going? The sun's getting pretty high in the sky", he rubbed his hands together as if he were excited.

Percy didn't blame him, he was getting pretty restless from just standing around and talking, and he kind of missed the rush of quests.

Annabeth looked around, "I think we're ready to go… Hang on, where's Nico?".

They looked around the hill, "That's funny. He was just here a minute ago".

They spread out, looking all over the hill, and Chiron even went back down to camp to see if he had returned for something.

The search was interrupted when Percy looked behind some bushes.

"Ahh!".

The group ran over, already drawing weapons, but what they found wasn't a threat.

Nico and Will were standing next to each other, Will's arm was around Nico's waist, and from the blush in their faces it was obvious what had been going on.

The group snickered, but Percy just stared at them confused. Nico had come out three years ago after the Second Giant War, and not long after he and Will had become a couple.

Everybody knew about it, and teased him about it constantly.

The Ghost Kong's boyfriend was a bright and sunny son of Apollo, how ironic.

"Wait... what? You're... what?", Percy stammered, looking between the two boys.

"Yep. Nico's gay. He's my boyfriend", Will said, shocking Percy even more.

Finally, he got over his shock and spoke, "When did this happen?".

His head swivelled between his friends and the two boys.

"Three years ago. Right after the war, actually".

Will spoke fearlessly, but Nico was red, and seemed to want to be anywhere but there.

"Can we go now?", he asked quietly, glaring at the group behind Percy who were still smiling at the two boys.

Annabeth stepped forward and agreed, but not before giving Nico a look.

"Yeah, guys. Come on, let's go. If we don't leave soon we'll miss our train".

The group scattered to load their things on the van. Piper stayed for a bit longer, fawning over Nico and Will and how cute they were together, but eventually she got called away and had to go help.

Soon, the van was packed and they were ready to go.

As they drove away in the van, Chiron stood on the hill looking after them in his full centaur form.

They drove out of sight, and Chiron murmured one last thing before turning around and heading back to camp.

"May the gods protect them".

—

 _Three Days Later_

It was their third day on the train, and the entire crew had officially gone crazy with boredom.

They had played cards, read books, gone for walks along the train, slept, and gone over the plan at least a million times. But they were still restless.

It didn't help that as they got closer to San Fransisco Percy and Xavier got more and more tense, murmuring things about sensing evil.

By the time they got off of the train they were almost wishing they had some monsters to fight.

They should have watched what they wished for.

As the group approached the entrance to New Rome, a bellow could be heard in the forrest behind them, and Percy immediately recognised it.

"The Minotaur! Split up! Meet in New Rome! Xavier, stay with me".

They did as he asked, each person splitting off into a different direction as they ran through the forrest. They were almost there, the entrance to Camp Jupiter would be just over the hill.

The Minotaur bellowed again, this time off to Percy's left. There was a large thump and a crash that sounded like a tree falling down.

Percy looked worried. That was the direction that Annabeth had run in.

Xavier saw his look and stopped running, "Don't worry. I'll go help them. You just get to New Rome and find Frank and Hazel".

With that, he ran back into the forrest in the direction of all of the noise.

Percy got over the hill, and looked out below him at the highway. In the tunnel, he could just barely make out the shapes of two guards with helmets on their heads guarding the entrance to New Rome.

He didn't know if the guards would even let him in or not, so he decided to bypass them all together and just fly over.

He opened his wings and beat them once and then he was aloft.

A quick summoning of a icy breeze off the water allowed him to speed up, and soon he was drifting over New Rome.

Sounds of alarm came from below him as they spotted him, and soldiers filed out of the gates, followed by a figure in a bright red cape who could only be Reyna.

He aimed for right in front of where their ranks had stopped, and landed on one knee, making the Earth around him crack.

He looked up, the scar on his face fully visible as the hood on his cloak lay limp on his back.

The soldiers murmured as he stood up and faced Reyna. He was now taller than her by a good couple of inches, and the scar on his face must have been pretty intimidating. But her face remained passive, and she looked at him with a calculating gaze.

"Who are you?". She spoke in her louder praetor voice, and all the soldiers behind her were immediately silent.

"You don't recognise me? I'm hurt", Percy put a hand over his chest and gave her a lopsided grin.

He stopped when he realised just how much like Apollo he sounded right now. Instead, he met her gaze.

"You don't recognise me at all, Reyna?".

She looked at him with that same calculating gaze for a few moments longer before recognition dawned on her face.

"Percy?".

"In the flesh", he spread his arms and wings out to prove his point.

"Percy!", she launched at him with a hug, which caught him slightly off guard. Reyna wasn't exactly known for being overly affectionate.

"We thought you were dead! Where have you been?".

"We'll explain it all in a moment. Can I see Frank and Hazel? They're needed".

She looked puzzled, but nodded and sent two of her soldiers off to go and get them.

"I'm sorry, you said 'we'? Are there others with you?".

Just as he was about to answer they were interrupted by the sound of Leo screaming.

They turned to look, and above them, coming from the direction of the forrest was Leo, floating in midair on some wind currents that Xavier was producing beneath him. Xavier carried Annabeth, who seemed to be unharmed, in his arms, as he used his own wings to keep him aloft.

Next to them, Jason used his own power over the winds to carry he and Piper down to the ground.

The only person who wasn't with them was Nico, and judging from the surprised yelp of a soldier behind him, Percy could assume where he had shadow travelled to.

"Where did you come from?", one of the soldiers asked.

Percy turned around to see Nico emerging from the ranks of soldiers.

Nico turned back around, and without missing a beat, said, "From your shadow".

The guys eyes widened, and when Nico turned around again Percy could have sworn he saw the smallest glimpse of amusement in the younger boy's eyes before he caught Percy staring and it was replaced by a scowl.

After Leo was set down less-than-gracefully, they each said their hellos to Reyna, especially Jason.

Sometimes Percy forgot that Jason had lived here for most of his life, and had been praetor alongside Reyna before he disappeared.

Than she turned to Xavier, whom she had never met before.

"I don't believe we've met. I'm Reyna, daughter of Bellona, the roman goddess of war".

Xavier shook her outstretched hand and said, "I'm Xavier, son of Helios".

At his introduction Reyna stepped back and the soldiers behind her tensed.

"Relax, Reyna. He hates his father, he works alongside me".

She relaxed only slightly, and kept giving him wary glances.

"Fine. Now come! We have much to talk about. I have been looking for you for three years! You must tell me where you've been hiding".

The group walked through the gates of Camp Jupiter, and the soldiers dispersed, disappearing as they walked.

They made their way to the Principia, and Percy couldn't help but chuckle slightly as he caught Xavier gaping at the camp.

When they arrived in the praetor's quarters, Reyna sat down in a chair behind a large desk, and gestured for Percy and Xavier to sit in the chairs opposite.

When everybody was settled, they began.

"So, I have many questions, so we can just start with the first one. Percy, where have you been for the past three years?".

Percy knew that the question was coming, but he still stiffened as mention of the past made memories flash almost painfully behind his eyes.

"I was locked in Tartarus after the Doors of Death closed. I knew what I was doing and that somebody had to stay behind so that they could be closed on both sides. I fully expected to die after that, but I didn't. The remaining spirits of Kronos, and then later Gaea had me captured and brought to them. They personally tortured me to the brink of death for two years. But I was rescued by Chaos, creator of the universe", he gestured to Xavier sitting in the chair next to him.

"Xavier was also rescued by her a little while later, and after she healed me she began to train us together. She made us much more powerful and gave us control over any domain of our choosing on top of our previous powers as half-bloods. I chose the cold, and Xavier chose the heat".

To prove their point, Percy waved his hand coated his chair in ice, and Xavier opened his palm and lit it on fire, playing with the little flame like it was a ball.

"She gave us these wings to go along with our respective powers over wind, upgraded our weapons, and made us immortal all so that we could fulfill a duty for her".

Out of the corner of his eye he saw his friends perk up, they had never heard this part of the story before.

"She didn't like all of the evil that was polluting her favourite planet, so she sent us down to eliminate it. We can sense evil presences, and we track them like monsters track half-bloods until we find them. Normally we rotate on separate parts of the Earth, but this evil that we are facing now is much larger than any corrupt politician or monster".

"And what evil would that be?".

Reyna sat forward at her desk, interest and curiosity glinting in her eyes.

Percy shared a look with his friends. They weren't supposed to share the details of their quest with others unless it was completely necessary.

But Percy had a sneaking suspicion that Reyna would murder them if they didn't tell her.

"You know how Gaea tried to rise three years ago?", he started, and Reyna's eyes widened.

"It's not her again is it?".

"No, it's not her, it's her husband, Tartarus, and he has already risen".

"What?! Why hasn't anything happened yet? Why hasn't he attacked?".

"He is amassing his army as we speak. That is why we need to see Frank and Hazel. There has been a new prophecy, the Prophecy of Nine. We need them to fulfill it".

Finally finished with his explanation he sat back in his chair, while Reyna thought.

"Okay. If they agree, Frank and Hazel may join you on your quest. May I hear the prophecy, though? I want to relay it to our new augur".

Percy again looked over at the others.

Jason gave him a nod, and his gaze travelled next to him to Piper.

"Okay. Piper, you've memorised the prophecy, right?".

Piper nodded her head and spoke.

" _Nine half-bloods will be the ruler of doom's demise,_

 _From inner demons a hero will rise_

 _An impossible choice will lead to destruction_

 _To a new changed life true love must make introduction"._

After she finished speaking, Piper sighed, making everybody turn to her in confusion.

"What's wrong, Pipes?", Jason asked.

"Nothing, I just think it's really romantic that two people's love is so strong that it was directly mentioned in a prophecy".

She looked around at the faces of the people in the group, but everybody was just staring at her blankly.

"Um, Piper? I think your Aphrodite is showing", Leo joked, cracking a smile.

She gave him a death glare, and he stopped smiling saying, "Aaaand, she's back".

Reyna looked up from where she had been writing the prophecy on a small piece of paper, and stood up.

"I am going to go give this to our new augur. You are welcome to join me and search the camp for Frank and Hazel. Mind you, it's their free time, now. So I don't know where they'll be".

Percy and Xavier stood up from their chairs and the others behind them groaned and trudged towards the door.

 _This was going to be a long search._

 **A/N:**

 **Hey guys! Thank you so much for your reviews! You honestly have no idea how much they mean to me and how excited I get when I see them, so thank you so much! I'm sorry that the end of this chapter was kind of boring, I was trying to speed it along, but I'm not the best at writing time skips, so sorry if it seemed a little bit choppy and awkward. I promise the action will start again soon. Thanks so much! ;)**


	16. Chapter 16

Camp Jupiter was massive.

They had been searching for well over two hours, now, and still no sign of either Frank or Hazel.

There was only one place in the entire camp that they hadn't searched yet, and that was the stables.

They were going to search there first, as that would be the place that Hazel would spend most of her free time besides her cabin, but Annabeth insisted that they search the camp methodically, so that there was no chance that they could miss them.

The stables were at the far edge of camp, at the other end of a large field that horses were grazing in. It was nice and peaceful out here, none of the hustle and bustle of camp life. Percy could see why Hazel liked it so much.

When they walked in, Percy was surprised at how clean it was, it hardly smelled bad at all, in fact Percy quite liked the smell of this stable. It smelled like worn leather and sun bathed hay.

A loud voice inside of his head interrupted his (for once) peaceful thoughts.

"The fuck are you doing here?".

He looked around him, appalled at the curse and the obnoxious tone of voice of whatever horse that was. But then his gaze landed on Arion in his stall, being brushed from behind by somebody who could only be Hazel.

He fixed the horse with a glare, and said, "You are very rude, you know that?".

The others looked around in confusion before realising that he was talking to the horse.

It whinnied angrily and stomped one foot, "If you think I'm going to call you lord, than you've got another thing coming".

"I'm your brother, you could at least be a little bit nicer to me".

The horse made a sound that sounded like its version of laughter before it snorted, "In your dreams".

Before he could continue the conversation going nowhere, Hazel spoke up from behind him.

"What's got you so agitated, boy?". She patted him on his neck, and he threw his head towards the group gathered in the doorway.

She came around his side, and when she spotted them she froze.

Her golden eyes took in each of them at once, finally landing with a confused expression on Percy and Xavier.

"Hey guys! I didn't know you were coming!", she went over and gave everybody a hug, stopping in front of the group and staring at Percy and Xavier expectantly.

She had definitely matured, she seemed, _older_ , somehow. That little kid sparkle of curiosity that had always been in her eye was gone, replaced with a look of wisdom that took Percy by surprise.

She continued to eye the two boys as a heavy silence fell. Her gaze settled for longer on the large scar on Percy's cheek, grimacing slightly. But then her brow furrowed in confusion.

She shook her head and smiled at herself, as if shaking a ridiculous thought out of her mind and finally broke the silence.

"Well? Aren't you going to introduce yourselves? I already know who everybody else is, though what they're doing here I have no idea", at that she paused and threw Annabeth a questioning look which she just ignored.

"You really don't recognise me, Hazel?", Percy asked, a little bit of hurt creeping into his voice.

He knew he had changed, but he didn't think he had changed so much that he was unrecognisable.

His green eyes locked with her golden ones, and they stayed that way for a few moments before she gasped.

"P-Percy?", she asked. A little bit of the little girl was creeping into her eyes and voice, and she stepped closer to him.

"It _is_ you! Oh Percy! What happened?", she threw her arms around his midsection, as she was too short to reach any higher.

At first he stiffened at the embrace, but soon he relaxed and hugged her back.

"I'll explain it all in a few minutes".

She pulled away, and turned quizzically to Xavier.

"And who are you?".

"I'm Xavier. I work with Percy".

She frowned slightly as she asked questions about his answer.

"Work with?".

Percy smiled, drawing Hazel's attention back to him.

"We'll explain that in a moment too".

"Okay… Are you a demigod?".

"No-".

"Clear-sighted mortal?".

"No".

She frowned again. "Then what are you?".

"If you would let me finish…", Xavier paused to throw a glare at Percy who was barely containing his laughter at Xavier's many failed attempts to talk.

"I am not a demigod, I am a demititan".

Hazel paused her spew of questions, and seemed to analyse Xavier in a different light.

Finally, she asked, "Which titan?".

Xavier seemed mildly pleased that Hazel had not freaked out like everybody else had when they'd been told, and answered in a less foul tone of voice.

"Helios. He's faded now, thank the gods".

"What's the matter? You have issues with your parents?", everybody chuckled at that and the tense feeling in the air seemed to lift.

Hazel walked over to her brother and gave him a big hug.

"Good to see you, Nico. I haven't seen you in a while". The younger boy looked surprised at first, but then seemed content and hugged back.

"So. Not that I don't love seeing you guys or anything. But what do you want?".

She turned back and walked towards Arion, summoning a gold nugget from the ground and giving it to him.

Before anybody from the group could answer her question, somebody could be heard calling from outside.

"Hazel?! Are you in there?". They couldn't tell who the voice belonged to, but Hazel answered that question for them soon enough.

"Yeah, Frank! Come in!".

 _Perfect. Now we don't have to go around and try to find him again._

Frank walked in through a door from behind Hazel that Percy hadn't even seen, but when he saw them all gathered with Hazel in the middle of the stable he stopped in his tracks.

"Hey, big guy", Percy said, giving him a small wave.

Unlike all the others, Frank seemed to recognise Percy immediately. "Percy?".

Percy gave a small grin and a nod, uncomfortable with the silence that had once again settled over the group.

But then Frank did something unexpected, he changed into a cat.

They all stared dumbly as the cat paced around and meowed a lot.

Leo busted out laughing, and soon the others joined in, unable to resist.

The only one not laughing was Hazel, who sighed dramatically and picked up cat-Frank.

"Oh, Frank".

Once he got over his laughing fit, Leo was able to ask a question between breaths.

"Why did he just randomly turn into a cat?".

Hazel was holding cat-Frank in her arms, and was scratching it behind the ears to calm it down.

"Frank turns into a cat when he feels anxious or overwhelmed. It's just his thing", even she cracked a smile as she stared down at the ball of fluff that used to be her boyfriend.

"Well how long until he turns back?", Percy asked.

Annabeth and Piper had gone up to stroke cat-Frank and scratch him behind the ears while making little cooing noises, leaving the boys behind where they were before.

"How come she doesn't give me that much attention?", Jason grumbled.

"I know right?", Leo added.

"Hazel, uh, Frank", Percy addressed the cat a little bit awkwardly, not used to having a normal conversation with cats.

"We have a lot to talk about".

Hazel furrowed her brow and shot Annabeth another questioning glance, but she still nodded.

"Okay... Follow me".

She led them back all the way through camp to her cabin.

They entered the cool dark space, and sat in various places around the cabin.

It was definitely decorated with Pluto in mind. All the colours were various shades of black and grey, but Hazel had decorated it a little bit with various splashes of metallic color.

She set Frank down on the bed beside her, and most of the others sat on the floor in front of her, Percy just leaned against the wall, and Nico seemed to melt into the shadows themselves, but he was still vaguely visible.

"So... Tell me everything".

Percy looked at Xavier, not wanting to tell the story for the third time, and luckily he got the message.

As Xavier told Hazel and Frank about what had happened to Percy and him leading up to where they were now, Hazel's face remained strangely impassive.

It struck Percy once again just how much _older_ she seemed now.

In fact, all of his friends seemed more mature now in some way.

Physically, they all looked younger than him, as they had been made immortal a good three years before he had.

But you could see in their eyes and in the way that they carried themselves that they had changed.

Leo, although still the jokester, seemed to have sobered up a bit since he had returned with Calypso.

Jason carried himself differently. He had always been regal and just overall very Roman, but now he carried himself less stiffly, and more with comfortable control, like his Greek and Roman sides had completely mixed since the last time Percy had seen him.

Piper seemed fiercer, her kaleidoscope eyes held a glint in them that they never had before, and her hand always seemed to be sitting on the hilt of the dagger strapped to her waist, as if waiting to be attacked at any moment.

Nico was still as quiet and dark as ever, completely accepting the part of him that was King of the Ghosts. He still seemed to radiate darkness, but unlike before, it seemed more controlled, like he now realized exactly how powerful he was.

And Annabeth, Annabeth seems tired. Her stormy eyes still held that fierce curiosity, and her gaze was just as analytical and cold as ever, but all her muscles and limbs seemed more relaxed than before. And somehow it was even more scary, like she had already come up with the way to completely destroy you and found it boring.

Percy zoned back in from studying his friends just as Xavier finished his explanation.

Hazel's golden eyes flitted to his for a moment in pity before sweeping again over the whole group.

Finally, she spoke, "So, Frank. Looks like we're needed to save the world again. You up for it?".

Cat-Frank butted his head against her leg and purred, and they all laughed.

"Okay... We're in".

They waited in Hazel's cabin for a little while longer, waiting until cat-Frank turned back into Frank.

Finally, after about ten minutes of the crew just joking and messing around, Frank was ready to go.

"Finally! When we said time was of the essence we weren't joking with you", Leo said with a grin.

Frank just grinned at everybody and pulled them into one big group hug.

"Frank... You're crushing us...".

"Sorry".

He smiled sheepishly again, and Percy was glad to see that despite his new appearance, Frank was still the same guy.

He had grown into his new more muscular body, and since Percy had last seen him his face had changed. It was no longer as babyish as it was before, and suited the rest of his bulky body much better.

Frank and Hazel each grabbed as big a water bottle as they could, and then the group walked out of the cabin, making their way through the camp to talk to Reyna before they left.

As they walked through camp, Percy made sure to keep his hood up, remembering how people had stared at him during his first time through.

Even with his hood up he still had the tingling sensation at the back of his neck that told him he was being watched.

He looked around, but nobody in the camp was sparing him any more than a curious glance.

 _It was coming from outside of the camp._

The thought had just crossed his mind when he saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye.

On instinct, he turned and held his hand out, his reflexes working to catch the arrow that was aimed right at his head inches from his face.

The others continued on in front of him, oblivious.

There was a second, a split second when he was too shocked to move. But then his battle senses kicked in.

"Xavier! Hunters! Get down!".

Xavier immediately stopped his conversation and reacted as Percy had said, alerted to the danger by his tone of voice.

Xavier pushed the group off of the Main Street so that they were no longer so exposed, but Percy could tell by now that the hunters weren't after them, they were after him.

He threw down the familiar silver arrow and another flash came from the forest on the hill skirting the camp.

He opened his wings to their full length and blocked it, the arrow bouncing harmlessly off of them.

His group off friends now safely out of the area, he allowed his aura to expand until the air around him was frozen to at least fifty below zero.

Any arrow that came at him now would freeze and fall uselessly to the ground before it reached him.

Taking advantage of this momentary safety from attack, he scanned the surrounding forest, but saw nothing.

Of course he didn't see anything, Thalia wouldn't allow her hunters to be so sloppy.

 _There._

A bird call, coming from a section of trees to his left.

It sounded remarkably similar to a real bird, and under any other circumstances Percy would have thought that it was, but he knew Thalia.

He uncapped Anaklusmos, waiting for it to sound again.

 _There._

It was closer this time, coming from the same direction. The sounds of normal camp life blurred together until all he could hear were the sounds he needed to.

He threw Anaklusmos. The trident flying through the air with deadly speed and accuracy.

He heard a thwack as it hit a tree, and then a cry of pain as it pinned its target.

Three more arrows dropped to the ground around him, frozen solid.

Campers were crowded around as close as they could get to Percy, staring at the action. And he could see Xavier and the rest of the crew crouched behind some barrels and boxes.

Percy used his wing to deflect another arrow, and lifted into the air to see who he had caught.

When he landed, he found his trident stuck fast to a tree not far from the camp.

It pinned a girl with spiky black hair and a circular tiara.

 _Thalia._

She was struggling against the trident which was pinning her to the tree.

Her wrist was caught between two of the prongs, and every time she moved more blood appeared from her wrist which was wedged between two of the razor sharp blades.

She tried to pull the trident out of the tree to free herself, but it was stuck deeply in the trunk, and from her position with only one hand she wasn't strong enough to get it out.

When Percy landed, the ground in the area surrounding him immediately froze over, and the air temperature dropped dramatically.

Thalia's head snapped up to look at him.

More arrows flew from trees around him, but he just waved his hand a summoned a wind to send them off course.

The arrows were getting quite annoying, of course. Especially since he couldn't see who was firing them.

He focused on his connection with the Earth and the ground, channeling his power into it and willing it to shake. It responded, and the ground began to rumble. The trees shook as the ground did, and after a few moments of this, five hunters fell out of trees all around him.

Percy raised an arm, and ice began to grow around the dazed hunters, trapping and pinning them to the ground.

Thalia watched from her position pinned to the tree with wide eyes as all of her hunters were incapacitated.

"Who are you?", she asked, turning to Percy and putting as much venom and malice into her voice as possible.

Percy didn't answer her question, instead firing back one of his own.

"Why are you doing this, Thalia? I thought we were friends".

She looked confused at his question.

"Friends? I don't even know who you are! Why don't you take off that damn hood and show your face!".

She was trying to rile him up, although Percy didn't know why.

 _Unless…_

"Thalia, where's the scout?".

She played dumb, "What?".

"The hunter that's still free somewhere around here. Where is she?". Percy's voice was deadpan, and he studied her reaction carefully.

"How did you know that there was somebody else?".

She was still trying to keep him talking. Whoever it was must have still been pretty far away.

He couldn't let them get here before he explained himself.

He walked towards her, the ice and frost on the ground crackling beneath his feet. She widened her eyes in fear, as he grasped the handle of his trident.

But he didn't hurt her. He just released her, pulling Anaklusmos out of the trunk of the tree with one firm yank.

Thalia cried out as the sharp blades on the tips of the prongs cut through her skin, and then stumbled forward as her hand was released from its prison.

She looked up at him, shocked at her release.

Before she could get over her shock and try to attack him, he raised his hands to the hood of his cloak and let it fall back, revealing his face.

She recoiled at the sight of the scar on his cheek. And unlike all the others, Percy saw Thalia read the words written into his skin underneath the large symbol.

"All must fall? What does that mean?".

She looked up at him in horror.

"Who do you work for?".

"I work for Chaos, creator of the universe. I am one of two of the warriors she has here on Earth. This brand was given to me by Tartarus himself when I was captured. He is already risen and means to attack sometime within the next three weeks. I am surprised that Lady Artemis has not told you any of this already. I have already spoken with her and the rest of the Olympians".

She continued to look at him warily, although the the hostile glares stopped once he mentioned that he had spoken to Lady Artemis.

"Who _are_ you". She spoke the question more insistently this time, pinning him to where he was with her gaze.

He heard slight rustling in the tress to his left. So quiet he would have thought it was just a breeze disturbing the trees. There was only one problem with that, there was no wind.

He sidestepped just as a silver arrow shot through the place where his head had been just a minute ago.

"Thalia! Call them off! How am I supposed to tell you who I am if you're constantly trying to kill me?".

She studied his face, not moving as Percy just barely dodged another arrow.

" _Thalia!_ Call her off before I have to kill her!".

He hefted his trident, using it to deflect another arrow away from his face. He was just about to throw it towards the faint sound of a twig snapping nearby when Thalia said, "What!".

He stopped, and so did the arrows.

She gave a short whistle, and another hunter stepped out from the bushes behind him.

She was tall, and had hair so blonde it was almost white that was tied back and braided down her back. A bow was slung over her shoulder and a quiver on her back.

As she saw her sisters on the ground restrained by ice, she turned back to him and stared in disbelief which quickly morphed into anger.

Thalia beckoned her over, and she went to stand until she was next to her lieutenant.

"This is Leila, my second in command", Thalia started.

She was still somewhat preoccupied with her wrist which was still bleeding.

Percy would have stepped forward to help her, but the only thing he had on him was a small amount of Phlegethon water, and he doubted that she would appreciate him pouring that on her.

Her lightening blue eyes snapped back up to his and studied his face once more.

"Now… Who. _The hell._ Are you?".

If Percy hadn't known Thalia for the better part of three years, he would have physically flinched at her words, but he was used to this kind of thing by now.

He was surprised that she still hadn't recognised him. All of the others had gotten it within ten minutes of his face being revealed.

And yet here he was, having a long argument with Thalia, and she still didn't know who he was.

He shook his head before speaking, not wanting to delay this for any longer than he had to.

"It's Percy, Thalia. Percy Jackson. I'm back".


	17. Chapter 17

Her eyes widened and she stepped away from him.

Leila just glared.

"Who?".

He ignored her, eyes trained on Thalia.

Blue eyes met green ones and she physically flinched.

"Percy?".

Her voice sounded smaller, more like the 15 year old girl she still looked like.

"Who is Percy Jackson?", Leila turned to Thalia, now. And for the first time Thalia seemed to realise that she was asking a question.

"He's my… he's my cousin. He went missing three years ago. Nobody knew where he was, even Lady Artemis couldn't track him".

The shock in her eyes morphed into anger and she stormed over and slapped him across the face.

"Perseus Jackson! You went missing for _three years_!".

He chuckled and then she slapped him again.

"And then you come here and freeze five of my hunters!".

All five still captured hunters on the ground glared at him.

He hadn't even realised that they were still frozen.

He waved a hand and the ice disappeared.

"Better?", he asked sarcastically.

"Much", she turned back around and tended to her sisters, but none of them were hurt so she quickly turned back around.

"I think you owe quite a few people an apology, Thalia", Percy said, tauntingly.

"Oh yeah? And why's that?". Her face gave away nothing, but her eyes twinkled with just the smallest amount of amusement.

"Well, for starters, you tried to kill me, Xavier, Frank, Hazel, Piper, Jason, Annabeth, Nico, and Leo".

She winced. "Yeah… Sorry about that. I'll be right down to explain".

Percy got a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"No need…".

Before she could say anything or try to get away, Percy stepped forward, grabbed her under the arms and opened his wings, gliding down to camp with a screaming Thalia underneath him.

The campers who had gathered for the spectacle had all dissipated, but when Percy and Thalia got within hearing range everybody looked up at the sky again.

"I'm going to _kill_ you, Kelp Head!".

"You already tried that, remember? It didn't work". He laughed as he set her back down on the ground in front of his friends.

"Look who I found stalking us in the woods?".

Annabeth looked at Thalia incredulously. "Why were you hunting _us_ , Thalia?".

Once she had recovered her wits, Thalia stood back up in front of the group and held out her hands to placate them.

"Okay… So this was all just some big understanding. We were hunting a strong evil force and tracked it all the way here. We get here, and see some dark figure in a hood tailing you guys and figure we found our person".

The group seemed to relax, and Leo laughed.

As everybody relaxed, Thalia seemed to notice Xavier standing at the edge of the group for the first time.

"Who are you?".

Xavier ignored her question and looked at Percy with mock anger.

"You didn't tell her? You never tell your friends who I am. I drop in the first time from a majestic sun ray and start to joke around, only to find that you are about to flash freeze everybody, and they _still_ don't know who I am".

Percy grinned and shrugged his shoulders, and Xavier turned back to face Thalia.

"I'm Xavier. I work with this idiot".

"Kelp head?".

"Seaweed Brain?".

Everybody offered Xavier nicknames to call Percy while he rolled his eyes.

"So what are you? Hot, and he's cold".

She was just joking, but Xavier nodded.

"Exactly. I think you're the first person to get that".

Thalia walked with them through camp as they made their way towards the gates of camp.

They explained the quest to her as they walked, and when they finally reached the gates she was all caught up.

Reyna was waiting for them when they arrived. She looked like she was about to say something, but then she saw Thalia.

"Thalia? When did you get here?".

"She tried to kill me and then I pinned her to a tree with Anaklumos until she calmed down".

Reyna looked at them, trying to figure out if they were joking or not. They weren't, and Reyna next pinned her gaze on Thalia.

"Why?".

"I thought he was the dark entity that we have been tracking. You have to admit, he does look pretty suspicious with that hood up".

They all laughed and Reyna just looked on at them with confusion in her eyes.

"Hazel, Frank. You're going on this quest with them?".

The laughter subsided and they nodded their heads.

"You will be okay without me for a little while?", Frank asked Reyna.

"Yes, yes. Camp Jupiter will be fine in your absence. As long as you don't bring a war back with you". She smiled good-naturedly, but there was an element of truth to her words.

Frank cast a questioning look around him at all of the Roman campers milling about their usual daily activities.

"Don't worry. I will explain to them where you have gone. Now go. You don't have much time".

Frank nodded, giving Camp Jupiter one last glance before turning and running from the camp along with the rest of the crew.

The exited the camp in a more normal way than they had entered, and soon found themselves walking along the road that the exit tunnel had let out on.

A bird call came from the forest nearby, and Thalia looked over to see Leila and the rest of her hunters waving to her from the trees nearby.

She sighed and turned to Percy, hugging him tightly.

"See you Kelp Head".

She held on to Percy for _just_ a little bit longer than everybody else, and as she trudged up the hill to join her sisters, she couldn't help but look back and pray quietly to the gods that they would be all right.

The group continued on walking in no particular direction down the road.

"If I remember right there should be a bus stop up here", Annabeth said, looking around.

"We can take the bus to Los Angeles in a couple of hours".

"That sounds much better than walking all day", Leo agreed, stretching his legs.

Percy nodded along, and soon the bus stop came into view in front of them.

His hood was still up, shrouding his face in shadows. Like he had told the others earlier, the Mist didn't hide or distort scars, they would look just as ugly and gruesome to the mortals as they did to anybody else.

Despite the dangerous and potentially world threatening quest looming ahead of them, the group was in a good mood, laughing and joking around with each other as they waited for the bus in the station.

Even Nico spared a small smile every once and a while.

The other mortals at the station looked at them with annoyed expressions on their face.

Percy didn't know what they were seeing instead of nine teenagers with battle armory and very dangerous weapons strapped to their hips, but whatever it was must have been annoying.

He still joked around with his friends, but he couldn't help but he tense.

Something wasn't right here, and the mortals kept throwing him dirty looks.

Finally, the bus pulled up and there was a sarcastic cheer from the group as they stood up.

Percy was the closest to where the bus had pulled up, so he went to get on first.

"Hold on there, son".

He looked up at the bus driver, confused.

The driver was squinting his eyes suspiciously at him.

"Why don't you take that hood off before you get on".

Percy froze.

"Why?".

His face was covered by his hood, but the driver could definitely feel his cold glare even from beneath it.

"We can't be having any suspicious people on the bus, I would feel better if I could see your face".

Percy took a deep breath, trying to keep a hold on his frustration, even as frost slowly began to spread from where his foot was on the bottom step.

"I don't think that that's a good idea. My face would just scare you".

Percy's friends were silent behind him, watching the exchange.

The driver smiled slightly at his comment.

"You can't be that bad, son. I've seen some ugly people in my day".

"No. Trust me, sir. It would be better for everyone if I could just get on the bus and move on".

The driver smiled down at them kindly, but his next words were anything but.

"Well, son, if you don't take that hood down then I'm afraid I can't let you or your friends on this bus".

Percy tensed, his eyes growing dark under the hood.

 _This guy has no idea what he's getting in the way of right now._

"Fine".

He put as much of his frustration into the word as he possibly could, and was satisfied when he saw him flinch.

He took his hand off the rail and reached up, flicking the hood down so it rested on his back.

The driver's eyes widened, and ice now covered the entire bottom step of the stairs.

"What is that. Some kind of gang symbol or something?".

He was still staring at the trident carved into Percy's cheek, but when his eyes met Percy's again, he flinched back even more at the darkness and anger in them.

"No. No. You're part of some gang! You can't come on this bus. No, I'm sorry".

With that he closed the doors and drove off. Leaving the group of demigods behind at the bus stop with no other way to get there than to walk.

Percy glared after the bus, pulling his hood back up and shrouding his face in shadows after some mortals walked by and stared at him.

"Annabeth, do you know how to walk to Los Angeles from here?".

His voice was quiet and restrained, like he was holding back his feelings.

"Ye-yeah. If we get a map I think that I could get us there".

He took a deep breath, flexing and unflexing his fists in an attempt to calm down, before he gave a small smile and nodded to the rest of the group.

"Let's get going, then. We have a long walk ahead of us".

The others looked at him warily, but started walking anyway.

He walked at the back of the pack, not in the mood to talk to anyone even as the mood among the rest of them picked up and started joking around again.

His _stupid_ scar.

"Hey, Percy. You okay?".

Piper had floated to the back of the group and was now walking next to him.

His hands were in front of him, fiddling with Anaklumos in pen form like he tended to do when he was anxious about something.

"I'm fine", his voice was quiet and didn't hold any anger towards her, but he made it clear that they were done talking about the topic.

He seemed closed off, like he was lost in his own thoughts, so she drifted back up to walk with the rest of the group and left him alone.

"Hey, Xavier".

"Hey!".

He was so perky like a child of Apollo. Sometimes she forgot where he came from and just how powerful he was.

"I'm worried about Percy".

He frowned slightly and asked her to explain.

"I was just back there asking him how he was, but he seemed distant. I think he's really ashamed of that scar".

He nodded. He had noticed that too.

"Yeah, he was always like that. Even in the palace he always wore around that hood. Lady Chaos and I always had to bribe him to get him to take it off".

"Oh, yeah! You lived in Chaos' palace! How was that? How was she?".

The topic moved on, and Xavier happily told her about the palace and about how Lady Chaos really wasn't as scary as some people thought she was.

Percy continued to brood at the back of the pack, and as the day wore on others tried to come back and ask him if he was okay.

But he wasn't. He wasn't okay.

Finally, when Jason came back to where he was walking to ask if he was "sure he was fine", Percy snapped.

"You know what? No! I'm not okay! I will never be _okay_ ".

Jason took a step back in surprise and the rest of the group stopped walking and turned around to face him at his outburst.

He ripped down his hood.

"This… this _thing_ is just a reminder of all that I've lost. I've lost everything! Everything I've ever loved. I can't even go out in public anymore without being stared at and pegged as a gang leader".

His skin began to steam, and seemed to grow a shade paler as his body temperature dropped at an alarming rate.

"Everything…", his voice was quieter now, but he was by no means calming down.

The steam began to come off of him in thicker clouds, drawing a few curious stares from mortals around them. Though what they saw the group didn't know, or care for that matter.

Annabeth stepped forward.

"That's not true Percy. You haven't lost everything. We're still here, your friends, Camp Half-Blood, _me_. We're all still here and we all still love you".

Their friends nodded in agreement, but her words just riled Percy up again.

The ground began to shake slightly, and they looked around nervously.

"You don't get it, do you? I can never have that life again. Those two years… down _there_. It changed me. That person that you guys knew doesn't exist anymore. I can go to Camp Half-Blood but I can never return, I can love you, but I can never be with you". He looked away as his voice cracked, tears gathered in his eyes and threatened to fall. And even in the middle of summer in Los Angeles ice coated the ground around their feet.

"So no. I'm not fine. I will never be fine. So just stop asking".

His steely tone of voice returned, and the tears were gone from his eyes as he looked up and met the gaze of all his friends.

Annabeth's eyes were misty with unshed tears. Mind still dwelling on a part of his words.

" _I love you but we can never be together"._

She opened her mouth and was about to say something when an arrow flew over their heads.

At first she thought it was the hunters again and she furrowed her brow in confusion.

But the arrow was different, black where the hunters' had been silver.

More rained down from the sky, and they looked around for something to use as cover but there wasn't anything.

They were in California, the only bush or tree around them right now was either dead or dying.

Thankfully, they didn't have very good aim, and the arrows seemed to land all around them.

She looked up and saw an arrow flying straight towards her.

It would have skewered her through the eye, but a silvery white blade caught it and deflected it away.

The cold that radiated off of it left her with no doubt who had saved her.

She turned to Percy, "Thank you".

But he wasn't paying attention, his gazed was trained to something behind her, and as she turned around she saw what it was.

A large group of monsters was making their way towards them.

They should have expected it, after all nine half-bloods (two of them being children of the big three) together was bound to attract some attention.

Anger and frustration and whole host of other emotions still radiated off of Percy in waves, and they seemed to multiple and become stronger as his eyes settled on the wave of monsters.

He charged, not waiting for the rest of the group to get their bearings.

Anaklusmos was already extended, and his wings opened as he took to the air.

The crew drew their weapons, intent on following him on foot, but Xavier stopped them by standing in front of the group and holding out a hand.

"What are you doing? Move! We have to go help him!", Annabeth said, stepping forward and attempting to shove him out of the way.

But he was firmly planted and wouldn't budge.

"Don't. He needs to work off some steam".

"Work off some steam?! That's practically an army! You don't just take on an army by yourself to work off some steam".

Jason too stepped forward, and judging by the looks in the others' eyes they all felt the same way.

But Xavier just smiled.

"Trust me. He needs this".

They just shook their head and pushed him out of the way, but stopped once they saw what Percy was doing.

His trident was whipping around him so fast it was just a blur around him. He stabbed and swiped, using both ends as the deadly weapons that they were. A trail of monster dust followed him as he cut through the crowd of monsters like they were nothing.

The entire group just stared at him, shocked. Drawn weapons forgotten in their hands they did as Xavier asked and let him handle it.

Percy threw his trident across the field where they had been fighting, skewering the last monster as it tried to run away back where it had come from.

As it crumbled to dust, the trident returned to his hand and he stood there, in the middle of a field of monster dust.

Finally he decided to walk back over and join the rest of the group.

"Do you feel better now?", Xavier teased, but there was a hint of sincerity in his voice.

Percy nodded, twirling his trident between his fingers.

"Sorry, guys", he muttered.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you", Xavier cupped a hand to his ear and leaned in dramatically close.

"I said I'm sorry for not being able to control my emotions!", Percy yelled into it, making Xavier flinch and him smirk.

Xavier rubbed his ear and backed away. "Let's just go now".

They walked out of the field, now filled with significantly more sand than before, and back onto the main road.

Percy could tell they wanted to talk about him, so a few minutes after they reached the road and continued on, he muttered something about checking the location of the entrance and took to the air.

After he had flown away, the rest of the seven turned to Xavier.

"Why are we here?", Jason asked, frustration shown on his normally impassive face.

"What do you mean? To go on the quest, to defeat Tartarus by destroying his source of power. I thought we went over this?", Xavier threw them a grin but nobody seemed to notice.

"Percy just defeated half an army of monsters by himself, to blow off some steam. Why does he even need us for this? With both of you here we don't need to be here too".

The others nodded in saddened agreement, but Xavier just shook his head.

"I don't think you understand. We're going to the Unruled. There are more than just monsters down there. Even being Chaos champions, if only the two of us went down there we'd never be seen again".

"So were going because there's safety in numbers", Piper clarified, although she didn't look all too thrilled about it.

"No and yes. Each of you is strong in your own right. You're each powerful demigods, and you'll each be invaluable to the quest".

They seemed appeased at that, but they still tilted their heads up to look at where Percy could still be seen far away, flying on winter winds with his dark angel wings.


	18. Chapter 18

Annabeth continued on, leading the group towards DOA Recording Studios which was also the entrance to the Underworld.

When they reached the sign that announced that they were entering Los Angeles, they all cheered.

"Hey, Nico. I didn't know that your father was such a romantic", Leo asked, gesturing to the Spanish portion of the sign.

"He's not". Nico scowled at Leo as he just kept grinning.

"The full name of this city is El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina del los Angeles".

"Yeah, so". Nico was trying to decipher the meaning of the name from his experience with Italian, but he couldn't get it.

"So? So he named the city after your step-mom. It means The Town of Our Lady the Queen of Angels. He named it after Persephone".

Leo looked around the group, proud about his discovery, but Annabeth just shrugged her shoulders.

"Cool".

They passed the sign and continued on. The entrance wasn't far from where they were, and Percy still hadn't made an appearance yet. He was probably going to meet them there.

Their assumption was correct when they walked into the studio and found the suspicious lack of resistance.

"Where did Charon go?".

"I'm right here. And thank you for pronouncing my name correctly".

They looked down to find him just sitting placidly on a nearby couch, the souls of the dead drifted around him but he didn't seem to care.

" You guys are demigods, right? Can you please get the shadowy ice guy out of my chair?".

"I told you that I am not shadowy, I just don't want to freak you out by lowering the hood".

Percy spoke up from a chair in front of the elevator. He hadn't said anything when they walked it, and they hadn't even noticed him sitting there.

"The gods know I've freaked out enough people today".

He mumbled the rest under his breath, but it was clear that he felt bad for being responsible for them not being able to take the bus.

"I keep trying to explain to you that I am Charon, the ferryman of the underworld, I have seen a few scary things in my lifetime'.

"I know who you are, we've met", Percy deadpanned, a hint of amusement in his voice.

He turned back to look at his friends who were still standing in the doorway.

"Are you ready? The elevator's here".

The doors behind him dinged and opened as if in response to his words.

"Hold on, the entrance to the Underworld is in an elevator?", Leo looked skeptical, but Nico just walked forward and got into the now open, elevator.

"You can leave Charon here, I can navigate the boat".

The rest of the crew walked forward and into the elevator, which seemed to increase in size as more people got on.

Charon stood up from his position on the couch for the first time since their arrival.

"Nico, I only just started training you, you can't go on your own yet".

The crew looked at Nico in astonishment.

"You're being trained by the ferryman to guide the ferry?", Leo asked.

That look of confused shock seemed to be permanently glued to his face.

"We'll be fine. I've been training, and besides, we have Percy here to guide the river for us".

Percy winced, he was hoping to avoid being recognised.

"Alright, well we have to go now, so-".

"Hold on a minute! Percy, as in Percy Jackson? Do you know how long I've been looking for you. Practically everyday I get bothered by somebody or another asking if I'd seen you".

He stepped forward and on to the elevator with them just as it closed.

"You don't look like your picture", his eyes travelled over Percy and compared it to a small photo he held in his hands.

"Yeah, well, I've changed", Percy said, surprising everybody with the note of bitterness in his voice.

"Maybe if I could see your face...?".

Xavier shook his head. "You don't want to do that.

He pulled back. Well how about your soul.

Nico looked up from where he had been leaning against the wall and was about to say some sort of warning, but Charon was already gone.

He reached over towards the boy standing next to him with his mind. Searching for his soul living inside of him.

It seemed reluctant, closed off, like there was a wall built around it.

Percy was looking away from the ferryman, not wanting to talk about the ugly reminder that would haunt him for the rest of his life.

But then he felt it, a cold creeping feeling, like someone was looking at him from the inside out.

His head snapped up, looking for the source and finding the strangely silent Charon with his eyes closed, swaying back and forth on his feet slightly.

There was a singular mental door leading into Percy's soul, and it remained closed with no doorknob when Charon approached it.

Percy's eyes flared with anger as he realized what Charon was trying to do, and he lashed out.

The mental door was suddenly flung open, and Charon suddenly found himself surrounded in a nightmare.

Ice grew around his feet and ankles, trapping his subconscious in place and forcing him to watch the horrors of this boys past.

Heat bombarded him and yet the ice never melted.

He became aware of a small presence crumpled on the ground just through the door. Upon closer inspection, he realized that that figure was Percy.

He wasn't wearing his hood, but his face was stopped over so that Charon could not see it.

Visions flashed before his eyes so fast he couldn't register them all. But the raw emotions that rolled off of them were almost enough to make want to curl up on the ground and cry.

 _Him._ The ferryman of death.

The pure pain and suffering that rolled off of him in waves made Charon stumble back, except he couldn't, his feet were stuck and he fell to the floor.

Anger, hopelessness, and grief so strong it was as though everything he had ever loved was gone.

And the feeling of unbelievable hopelessness and despair was what was left in the end.

"Just let me die!".

The words were sobbed, and accentuated at the end my an almost animalistic scream.

"Now why would we do that? You're so much fun!".

The voice was dark and made of pure evil. And the hissing sound that came when something was poured over hot coals followed.

The vision cut out and Charon was left staring at the boy, now glaring at him accusingly from across the room.

"Leave. Now".

The ice disappeared from his ankles, but Charon just used the newfound freedom to scrambled backwards away from him on the ground.

The trident almost seemed to glow in the dim lighting. The pale trident circled and played tricks on his mind. But the thing that really haunted him about the Brandon were the words underneath it.

 _All must fall._

The words stayed with him. Even when he was kicked out of his subconscious which shouldn't have been possible.

Even when he returned back to see Percy glaring at him with so much rage that he could feel it even without being able to see his eyes.

 _All must fall. Just a pawn. Always a pawn. What's the point?_

The remainder of Percy's thoughts clouded his mind and he stepped back as far as he could go without falling out.

It was now so cold that they could all see their breaths misting in front of them.

"You had no right!", Percy yelled at him.

His hood fell back, revealing the horrid scar whose significance ran so deep it was imprinted on his very soul.

While he was occupied, the elevator had morphed into a ship, and he was now wearing his signature dark hood and cloak, his face morphing into a skull.

The River Styx drifted by below them, remnants of lost and forgotten dreams making it so polluted that they were making slow progress.

Just before the boat touched the shore, Charon answered.

"How do you deal with so much grief and pain?".

He was genuinely curious, and Percy must have picked up on that because he stopped just as he was about to snap out a reply and his face grew solemn and serious.

But then he chuckled, it held no amusement but at the same time wasn't the dark laugh that had always made his friends question his morals.

"I don't".

With that he and his friends got out of the boat and walked away, across the black sand and towards the castle looming in the distance.

"I can shadow travel us all there. It shouldn't use up so much of my energy now that we're in my father's domain", Nico said, nodding his head towards the castle.

They stood in a circle and put all their hands together, Nico's going last and on top of the pile.

The space around them seemed to warp, the shadows elongated and suddenly all they could see was darkness.

They were moving so fast that Percy thought his face was going to be pulled off, and air rushed past their ears and created a steady roar.

Just as soon as it had started, though, it stopped. And they found themselves in a bedroom.

It was wide and spacious, and decorated completely in varying shades of black and grey.

"Where are we?".

His friends looked rather sick, Leo stumbled over to where he guess was the washroom to find a toilet to puke in. Jason just lost his balance and collapsed onto the floor in an undignified heap, and Frank turned into a very sickly looking cat. Percy himself fared much better, having shadow travelled before, he knew slightly more than the others what to expect, and just got slightly dizzy, leaning casually against a wall to hide it.

"This is my room. I just had to grab some… things".

Percy didn't ask, too caught up on the bit that he had a bedroom in his father's palace.

Percy hadn't even ever been to his father's palace, much less have a room to call his own in it.

Nico didn't seem to notice Percy's shock, and just shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah. I'm his ambassador, so I have to come down here a lot to speak with him. I actually kind of like it down here".

Nico sat on the edge of the bed and smoothed the comforter lovingly.

It was strange, to see the younger boy like this. The last time that he had seen him, Nico was still bitter and in pain, still remembering his own time in Tartarus.

What he was saying showed, though. His bedroom down here was much more decorated than his cabin in either Camp Half-Blood or Camp Jupiter. He even had a CD Collection and a really old CD Player that probably came out before monsters could smell.

Leo stumbled out of the bathroom, still looking slightly green but otherwise back to his old self.

"Dude, nice digs".

Nico just nodded and fiddled with something in his hoodie's main pocket.

Percy was naturally curious, but he let it be. Nico obviously didn't want to talk about it.

"So… Should we go? My dad should be in his throne room right now".

The others nodded, and they all walked towards the door, letting Nico take the lead as they followed him around a confusing series of twists and turns.

Percy was still fuming after the ferryman's intrusion, and he had to concentrate very hard not to let the ground beneath his feet frost as he walked.

The corridor that they had been walking down suddenly opened up, and they found themselves standing in a massive throne room.

Two large thrones were at the center of it, one made of black obsidian and fused bones, and the other more flowery, with golden highlights.

In one, sat Hades. Persephone's remained empty as she was up in Olympus with her mother during the summer months.

As they walked in, Hades didn't even turn towards them, just saying, "Nico! What brings you?".

The group walked around so that they were now facing the thrones head on.

"We need to get to Tartarus".

Nico's answer was blunt, and Hades raised his eyebrows in amusement.

"And why would that be, boy?".

Hades' eyes roamed over the rest of the group, then, as if just noticing them standing there.

"Ah, let me guess. You're going to jump down there and try to fight a primordial in his own domain".

Their faces must have given it away, because he laughed before any of them could speak.

"And I suppose you have a plan, then".

He smiled darkly and shrunk down to their size.

"Yes, Lord Hades".

Annabeth nodded her head.

"Well then. Continue on your way. Why do you need my permission to jump to your deaths?".

"The doors of death", Hades turned to Percy who had so far stayed at the back of the group, brooding.

"We need them, and you can talk to Thanatos for us".

Hades smiled with thin lips that barely hid anger.

"Father, please", Nico stepped forward again, drawing the gods' attention to his son.

There was a tense moment of silence when the Lord of the Dead and the Ghost King stared at each other.

"Fine. I will speak with him", he finally growled.

His eyes fell to his two children together, who were standing side by side, and softened slightly, before hardening once again to sharp glinting pieces of obsidian.

He stood up, striking Percy once again as still being distinctly powerful before completely flashing out and leaving the demigods alone in his throne room with Nico to guide them around the palace.


	19. Chapter 19

A/N:

Right... so I'm really really sorry that this took so long to update. If I'm being honest I kind of lost inspiration for this story. And that combined with the fact that I just finished finals week and the fact that I am the largest procrastinator on the planet is really my only excuse. I'm really sorry! I'll try to get more regular with the updates. So... yeah, sorry again.

P.S. If any of you have any ideas for any monsters that could be in the Unruled of Tartarus or any situations that you would like to see happen while they're down there, please tell me. Because I'm at a loss right now.

"I could really use a cheeseburger right about now", Leo said, breaking the silence that had been hovering over the group.

They were in Nico's room again, still waiting for his father to return.

Leo was bouncing a rubber ball of the wall, and the sound of it bouncing was the only sound in the room.

In the stories, they make quests sound like fast paced adventures where you're constantly running around trying to save the world.

In reality, there was a lot more waiting and boredom involved then most people realised.

"Me too. Maybe we should have eaten something before we came down here", Frank agreed, rubbing his stomach.

"I would offer you guys some food, but then you'd have to stay down here with my father forever so..."

Nico cracked a grin, and the other eight heroes stared at him incredulously.

"What? I can make jokes too", he grumbled as the others burst out laughing.

The bubble of tension that had been hovering over the group broke as they laughed together.

Even Percy and Nico managed to crack a grin, rolling their eyes at the others.

Suddenly, there was a popping sound, and Nico looked up, his grin falling off his face.

"They're back".

The group arrived in the throne room to see Hades and Thanatos in the middle of what looked to be a heated argument.

Thanatos looked remarkably like an angel with his onyx wings on his back. Percy supposed that was where the whole 'angel of death' saying had come from.

He was tall and quite muscular, with skin the colour of teakwood. His black hair was quite long, at about shoulder length, and he had it brushed back and over his head. Overall, he was very handsome, and was easily comparable to even Eros himself. But right now, he was emitting a strong aura of darkness with his anger.

Hades had a hand firmly clasped on the other gods' upper arm which he shoved off forcefully before turning his furious gaze back on the Lord of the Underworld. It seemed Hades had forced him here.

"What do you want, _my lord_ ", he asked, mockingly. "You know I am busy. Especially now". For a moment his expression flickered and he almost looked, sad. But it was soon covered up and his dark eyes hardened again.

For the first time, he seemed to notice the group of demigods standing apprehensively at the entrance and his scowl deepened.

Percy was standing at the very back of the group, still brooding from his encounter with Charon in the way across the Styx.

His hood was up, and he was leaning against the wall, partially hidden from view as the god of death studied the group.

"What is this, Hades? Why are these half-bloods here?".

He seemed to finally calm down from his unexpected transportation to the Underworld and now simply looked bored.

"They want to jump into Tartarus and wished to speak to you".

Thanatos just stared at him at first, analysing his face for any hint of a joke or trick, and when he found nothing, he turned back to stare at the group of demigods and laughed.

For once it held genuine amusement, and lasted for an uncomfortable amount of time.

The demigods just settled in for the same treatment they had received from Hades.

"Voluntarily?", he was finally able to gasp out.

Annabeth stepped forward, her eyes stormy as she analysed how this god would effect her plan.

"Yes. Voluntarily. The pit is rising and we will not be strong enough to stop him if he does. So we're going down there to destroy his heart, the center of all his powers".

Thanatos looked at the girl carefully. He had to admit, it was a good plan. At least, better than the gods' usual "attack and overwhelm with brute force" tactic. But still...

"That is a suicide mission, girl. It is pointless. You and your little friends should just crawl home and enjoy what little time you have left".

He crossed his arms over his broad chest, and a golden band wrapped around his upper arm bulged slightly as the muscles pressed against it.

"Yeah? And then what? We just let the world be destroyed?". Jason stepped forward until he was standing next to Annabeth and facing the god.

Thanatos recognised the telltale blond hair, blue eyed, tall figured boy as one of Zeus' children.

Despite the boy's words, Thanatos let a small smile on his face.

"Sure. Why not? The mortal world's already all but fallen into shambles anyway. This would be the perfect time for the start of a new regime".

Hades just scowled at his servant. A glare that Thanatos could feel burning a hole through the back of his neck which only made his smile grow wider.

"And you think that your domain won't be affected too?", Annabeth continued, her grey eyes flashing dangerously.

This god's cooperation was vital to their plan. There was no way that they'd escape Tartarus without access to the doors of death. Even if some small part of her did agree with him.

He just scoffed.

"My domain? You mean death? Let me tell you something, girl. The only thing that is ever absolutely certain in life is death. Death will continue on regardless of who rules the skies or the oceans. My domain will always be there. Your puny war does not affect me".

A grin grew on his face as he watched Annabeth digest this information.

He was right. Tartarus might rise, and the world might end. But there would still be death, in some way shape or form. Thanatos' domain would never really be damaged.

She agreed with him, and the rest of the group bowed their heads dejectedly.

Thanatos' eyes scanned over the group until they landed on a figure hidden at the back. He hadn't seen him on his first scan, and almost missed him on his second. He was shrouded in shadows, and seemed to be wearing some sort of hood. But what really attracted the god's attention was the fact that he seemed to be shaking.

Another moment of him watching curiously passed before the first sound was heard from him. It was laughing. The boy was laughing so hard that his entire form seemed to be shaking.

Thanatos scowled.

"You there. Why do you laugh?".

The other demigods looked at each other in confusion before they turned behind them and realised the god was talking about Percy.

He stepped forward, and Thanatos analysed the boy just like he had all the others. A hood shrouded his face in shadows, making it so that the only thing he could make out was his mouth. Of course, this only made him more curious, and his wings shifted restlessly against his back. There was something about this boy. Something different.

"I laugh at the fact that you think that this does not concern you. You think that Tartarus will spare you simply because you are death? No. The world will fall into chaos if you were to be disposed of, and that is exactly what they want, chaos. You will not be spared. Your domain will flourish, but you will perish along with the rest of us if he is allowed to rise".

Xavier looked around the room nervously, but it seemed that Tartarus was no longer taking an interest in them as Percy saying his name made no difference at all. He didn't know whether that was a bad thing or a good thing.

The other demigods behind Percy flinched, but Thanatos did not seem angry, just curious.

"And what is it you want from me, little demigod?".

Hades raised an eyebrow. It was very rare that Thanatos listened to even _his_ commands, much less those of a demigod.

"We need you to position the doors of death in the Unruled of Tartarus. We need them to escape after we complete our mission".

His words portrayed confidence, but the body language of those standing behind him said something different.

Thanatos barked a laugh that sounded nothing like before and held not a shred of genuine humour.

"Not just Tartarus but the Unruled?! It would be very funny for me to watch your futile little quest play out, but unfortunately that is not possible. The doors of death cannot be placed within the Unruled, it is forbidden".

Percy thought hard about this, and he could feel Annabeth next to him tense up, no doubt doing the same. He recalled his brief terrified memories of his time when he was released in the Unruled, and tried to remember what the entrance had looked like. There were brief flashes of a valley below a tall mountain and he nodded his head.

"Fine. Is it possible for you to position them just outside the borders, then?".

Annabeth could see that he had a plan, and stopped her futile attempts to come up with one of her own.

Thanatos stepped forward, his wings shifting and opening slightly before settling back down again on his back as he studied them.

"I suppose that it could be done".

His initial suspicions were confirmed. The shadows that surrounded the boy which he originally thought to be a result of the dim lighting were actually coming from him. There was a strange aura surrounding him. One that he specialised in.

Thanatos stepped closer and walked around Percy in a slow circle. It was eerie, and Annabeth who was standing just off to the side next to him narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Xavier took out his pen, and Nico rested his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"You intrigue me, boy".

" _Don't_ call me boy", Percy growled out. His aura increased slightly at the memories, and Thanatos smiled evilly.

Suddenly, he whipped around towards Annabeth and flung a dagger that nobody had noticed him take out.

Her eyes widened, but quicker than a flash Percy's wings were extended out and the blade bounced harmlessly off of the feathers.

As soon as she was safe he whipped around to face the god, Anaklusmos already out of pen form and pointed at him.

Death just raised a curious eyebrow and strode back over to where Hades stood.

"You, my dear boy, have the aura of death around you. I should know, it _is_ my specialty. So… who will it be?", he gestured to Percy's friends standing behind him, and Percy's face blanched.

"You're lying!", Nico snarled, but even he didn't look so sure. He could only sense death after it happened, not before.

Another grin from the god later and he turned back to face his master, speaking both over his shoulder to the group and to him.

"Alright, I will help. The doors will be there if you can reach them. I look forward to watching this little suicide mission of yours. I haven't had entertainment like this in a millennia".

With that, he flashed away, and the group of demigods were left alone in the throne room with Hades.

"I have to admit, half-bloods, you have surprised me. Thanatos doesn't normally like to follow orders".

Annabeth let out a sigh of relief she hadn't even realised she'd been holding. One step down, about a million, way more dangerous steps left to go.

"Follow me".

He turned on his heel and strode out of the room, leaving the demigods to follow him.

As the group walked through the castle, the crew looked around in awe. Not many of them had been to the Underworld before, much less been given a tour of Hades' palace. Percy was once again reminded of just how much it reminded him of Olympus. At least now, though, his uncle had been given a proper throne and place on the Olympian council.

A series of complicated manoeuvres that only Nico seemed to understand later, they had reached a sort of side exit, and were once again facing the desolate landscape of the Underworld.

Everything was grey or black, and even the colour in the crew's shirts seemed to be leached away by the environment. Still, Percy knew that it was much better than what was to come.

Across the flat plain filled with only the occasional skeletal poplar tree, Percy spotted a familiar cave, and both he and Annabeth tensed and froze in place.

Just like before, the strange opening seemed to reek of evil, letting Percy see and smell things that he shouldn't even know about.

The terrain grew rocky under their feet, replacing the trampled grass that made up the majority of the rest of the Underworld, and Percy's breathing became quicker and more shallow.

He could feel the beginnings of a panic attack starting to take him over, and he forced himself to calm down and breathe more deeply so that he didn't alarm the others.

Xavier glanced at him nervously, no doubt noticing his more tense posture. But Percy just shook his head to tell him that he was fine.

 _He would have to be fine._

Hades stopped the little group at the entrance to the cave, and turned back to look at the group of demigods one last time.

"This is where I leave you", he seemed more hesitant and almost nervous before he said his next words. "Be safe, Hazel".

She smiled up at him gratefully, but Nico just frowned.

"Come along, Nico. We have some paper work to do".

Nico's frown changed into a face of confusion.

 _His father thought that he wasn't a part of the quest? At least that would explain why he didn't tell_ _ **him**_ _to be safe like he did Hazel._

"Father, what do you mean 'come along'? I'm going on this quest too".

Hades face changed into one of almost sadness as he searched Nico's eyes and face for any sign that he was lying.

"Both of you?".

He looked between his children, and then to all of the faces of the questers.

He looked distraught, especially when he looked down at Nico, but his face quickly smoothed over into his usual mask of indifference, and the Hades they all knew and loved (debatable) was back.

He cleared his throat and looked down at the group once again.

"Fine then. You too, Nico. Jackson, you better not let anything happen to them", he growled. Percy saw right through him.

"Don't worry, uncle. They'll be safe with us".

Hades nodded, but Percy couldn't help but think about a time when he had made a smiliar promise, to Nico no less. No, this would not turn out like last time. He _would_ keep everybody safe. Even if it was at the cost of his own life.

Hades turned and walked back towards the palace, and the group of nine turned and began to walk into the cave. Walking away from each other in the desperate hopes that they'd see each other again.

Percy faltered just before he disappeared into the cave and looked back at the bleak grey colour of the Underworld behind him. The entrance to Tartarus yawned in front of them, as large as a city-block and as dark as anything Percy had ever seen before.

He knew that once he entered, that was it, he would have to follow the plan. This was the point of no return.

That small part inside of him told him to turn around, to go back to camp. To leave the campers and retreat with Xavier back up to Chaos' planet. At least then he wouldn't have to go through the horrors of Tartarus all over again.

It surprised him how tempting the idea was, but he shook his head and it was gone.

No. That wasn't an option. This was the only way.

He ducked into the cave, following after the others as they walked towards the literal entrance of hell.

"So… who wants to jump first?".


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Right then... What is up, my people? I know, I know. I've been kind of AWOL and erratic for a while, but I'm here to tell you that—that will never change because that is how my schedule works out... sorry. So, I think I'm getting back in my groove, I've got the next few chapters relatively planned out, and hopefully they'll be out quicker than the last few were.**

 **I'd just like to give ToxicPineapple a shout out. You, my human, are awesome. Seriously, though, your reviews warm my heart. You all have no idea how excited I get when that little notification pops up in the corner of my screen that says review. Your suggestions are also awesome! And I'll definitely see if I can possibly use a few of them, so thank you!**

 **Alright, with all of that out of the way, here you go, hope you enjoy! I made it longer than usual to make up for its lateness.**

The familiar fall into darkness made Percy's heart race with pure terror. That was no small feat. After all he had been through in his short miserable life, not much scared him anymore. But this definitely did it. Not only was he reminded of his first terrible experience and subsequent torture at the hands of this place, but he was going back in, and that was enough to send him on a downward spiral, literally.

The darkness felt like it was creeping in on him, crushing him under its weight and leeching out any of his hope of ever seeing the light again.

His friends were right there, falling next to him, but he couldn't focus on that. In fact, he hardly even felt them there.

He was lost to a full-blown panic attack the second he had felt his feet leave the solid ground of the Underworld, and the symptoms were extremely apparent.

His aura reacted, as it always did, to his wild emotions, but this time, it was different. Other times, it had spread out, and the entire area around him and then some would automatically get colder. But now his aura seemed to condense into one solid ball of pure frozen air, and his wings immediately opened and wrapped around both him and the ball, trapping them both inside a tight cocoon of feathers.

Xavier's own wings opened, and he called on the winds to slow the group's descent, but he got no response. Of course he wouldn't. This was Tartarus! Did he really think that it would be that easy?!

His wings still worked though, and he used them to propel himself down towards his friend.

As soon as he drew near he felt the coldness that warned him to keep away. But Xavier knew him better than that. He could feel the raw vulnerability and helplessness subtly radiating off his friend in waves.

His hand reached out to touch the ball of feathers, and they immediately opened, bringing with it a wave of such deep cold that frost coated the feathers of his golden wings.

His wings! The Chaos-inducted entity of heat's wings were coated with frost. This was some panic attack.

The other seven on the quest watched as a blur of gold zoomed past them, somehow moving faster than them even though they were all in a dead free-fall. They didn't try to follow.

"That Xavier kid is something else, man", Jason yelled over the wind. If he had seen Percy get that worked up, he would have stayed far away. Very far away.

Annabeth shook her head as if clearing away confusing thoughts.

"Every time I think I have him figured out, he goes and does something like this and messes it all up again", she yelled back.

The others nodded their heads in agreement to her statement.

"He's like a mixture between Leo and Will Solace!", Piper yelled.

"Hey!".

They all grinned, including Leo, and Annabeth realised in surprise that Piper's evaluation was surprisingly accurate. She kept forgetting that Aphrodite's children had a knack for reading people.

He was goofy, and always trying to lighten the mood just like Leo. But his domain over heat wasn't hostile at all, and he seemed to always want to make everybody feel better all the time, just like Will.

Hazel chuckled to herself as she remembered something that Thalia had said back at camp.

"What are you laughing about?", a slightly terrified-but-i'm-trying-to-hide-it Frank asked. The attention of all the others was immediately on her, and she blushed slightly under their gazes.

They had all joined hands and were now falling in a connected circle, that way all their heads were close together and they could talk while Percy and Xavier were falling at a slightly faster pace below them.

"I'm remembering something that Thalia said is all", Hazel replied. "After the whole misunderstanding was cleared up, she noticed how Xavier was hot and Percy was cold, like opposites". The others nodded, and slowly understanding began to dawn on each of their faces.

"Holy Hera she's right!", Jason said, laughing.

"I wonder if Chaos planned the whole thing?", Annabeth asked to herself, though she too had a smile on her face.

"It's more than just the hot and cold thing, too. They are actually complete opposites. Like Percy's all cold and hard like an ice cube, and Xavier's all warm and healing like Will at the campfire", Hazel continued.

"Will is still better!". The others looked at Nico in surprise. The younger boy hadn't said anything throughout the entire conversation and they had almost forgotten he was there, despite him holding hands with Hazel and Annabeth as they fell.

Annabeth smirked, and Piper cooed.

"Oh my gods! You guys are just too cute!".

Another round of laughter followed Nico's completely red face while Leo just stared at Piper with a look that said 'who are you and what have you done with my friend?'.

They were interrupted by a huge blast of cold followed closely by heat. Immediately recognising what it was, the entire group immediately looked below them, and just had time to let go of each other's hands and spread out before Xavier and Percy shot upwards past them.

Both their wings were open, catching the air and slowing their descent enough so that they were now just above the others in their fall.

The icy blue fog of Percy's true aura leaked out from his skin and surrounded him in a protective coating. Xavier retaliated, and soon the two fogs, one ice blue and the other a light orange were mixing and battling as Xavier fought to get through to his friend who was still lost in the throws of his own panic.

"Percy! Relax! This won't be like the last time, okay? We'll make sure of it! I'm here with you, all of your friends are here with you!".

His muscles relaxed, and the two drifted back down so that they were level with the others, but the tension was still not completely gone from his shoulders.

Annabeth immediately angled her body so that she drifted over towards them and tackled Percy in a sort of awkward mid-air hug that sent them flying backwards and shocked the fear right out of him.

Her lips firmly planted on his, and the remaining tension drained out of him.

Annabeth.

Suddenly, the dark didn't seem so dark anymore. His vision was no longer tunnelled, and his nose was filled with the infinitely comforting scent of lemons and strawberries from Annabeth's hair.

Even after they had pulled apart he held her close. Xavier was the one who could bring him back, but Annabeth was the one thing that he could always rely on to keep him grounded. His panic about their location completely disappeared as he realised one thing: as long as he was with Annabeth he would be okay.

His vice-like grip around her loosened, though only back to the strength of a normal hug, and he opened and beat his wings a couple of times in order to take him back over to where the rest of the group was still free-falling through the air.

"Don't say a word", Xavier hissed at the others as he saw Percy returning. He knew that his friend's grip on his panic was tenuous at best, and he didn't need any of the others setting him back into another attack, but they seemed to have already realised that, and just nodded solemnly at his words. Well… as solemnly as Leo could nod.

"Now all we have to do is add protectiveness like Percy into the mixing pot and we have the complete Xavier", Piper said more quietly so that only Jason, who was next to her, could hear her.

The couple returned. Annabeth looked like she had had the life hugged out of her, but she still smiled up at Percy fondly and with a hint of concern in her stormy eyes. Percy looked miles better. The fog had retreated back into him, and his eyes, though still darker than usual, didn't look so anguished.

The group fell in a comfortable silence for what felt like an eternity. They had resumed their earlier position of holding hands in a circle as they fell, but they didn't speak. What was there to say when they were literally falling into hell? On purpose no less.

Annabeth was the first to break the silence.

"So, Xavier… where are you from? How did you get picked up by Chaos?".

Xavier immediately tensed up. He didn't like talking about his past, and he was immediately on guard about the question.

His eyes began to glow slightly golden in the gloom, and he turned his suspicious gaze on Annabeth alone.

"Why do you want to know?", he asked tightly.

She looked slightly shocked at his sudden change in mood and tone of voice, but that only made the slight spark of curiosity in her eyes grow larger.

Thankfully, Xavier had a much better control on his emotions' effect on his aura and managed to keep it under control. But his body was tense, and Percy began to shoot him nervous glances. He wasn't the only one who would occasionally snap during their training with Chaos, and it was already pretty hot in here, he really didn't feel like covering the entire group in ice to protect them while Xavier turned into a human supernova out of agitation.

"Xave? You good?", he asked, meeting his friend's eyes.

He nodded his head tersely and took a deep breath to calm himself down.

"Yeah, fine. What do you want to know?", he asked, turning to Annabeth. If he wanted to get close to them and get them to trust him then he was going to have to open up a little bit. He couldn't take some without giving some too.

Percy looked surprised, but happy too. If he was opening up it must mean that he trusted them, and Percy wanted nothing more than for his two groups of friends to get along.

Annabeth looked surprised too, but she quickly recovered and began firing off questions before he could change his mind.

"Well… we know that your father is Helios and that you were supposedly bred to oppose us, but we've never heard of you or any other demititans so…?", there was an unasked question there, and thankfully Xavier seemed to pick up on what she was trying to say.

He seemed to scowl even more, if possible, at the mention of his father, but then his eyes seemed to soften, and he got lost in his own memories.

"Me and all the other demititans were born when our fathers raped our mortal mothers. After we were born… they killed them", Xavier choked up a bit when he remembered his mother's death. Most of the others had never known their mothers, but Xavier's had managed to escape the titans after he was born, it was one of the reasons his father hated him so much. She had died when he was only 6, but he could still clearly remember her kind brown eyes and beautiful smile. He missed her immensely.

"They trained us and brought us up to be soldiers. They didn't remotely act as our parents or anything of the sort. There were only about 10 of us, and we were meant to lead the army of demigods that had joined the titans' cause. As much as I don't like to admit it, it was that training that's gotten me to where I am today. Without it, I probably would have died a long time ago".

The others around the group said nothing, not even quietly to each other. They were all curious about this hidden aspect of the war that nobody had ever heard about.

"Our parents didn't treat us like their children, but we treated each other like siblings. I loved all of them".

There was pain and sadness in his voice, and they could already tell that it probably wouldn't end up well for his surrogate 'siblings'.

"There was one other boy, Jake. He and I were born at almost exactly the same time. He was a son of Oceanus, though, but we still acted just like twins. He was my brother and my best friend for as long as I could remember".

A few tears dripped from his eyes but were quickly blown away by the force of the air rushing past them, and the glow that his body always seemed to emit dimmed slightly.

"I think that we finally realised what exactly they were doing when we were 13? Yeah, that sounds about right. At first we just thought that they were really strict and wanted us to be strong, but when we found out what they really wanted, the whole purpose of our existence… well, you can already tell it didn't exactly make us happy. We were all extremely powerful, having been taught by our parents in our powers since we were old enough to walk. We were all angry, even little Kayla, who was only 10".

He smiled fondly, but it was quickly wiped away by an expression of grief.

We probably would have just tried to storm out of there, take on our parents ourselves, but Jake stopped us. He said that we needed a plan, that we couldn't just go and attack the titans, our parents, some of the most powerful beings in the world. Of course, he was right. We planned our attack for around two months, it probably would have worked too, but we made a mistake. Kayla couldn't remember her role properly whenever we went over it, so we wrote it on her arm so that she could remember, but her father, Krios, saw it in one of their training sessions. He called us all together into the training area for some sort of meeting, but when we got there, it was just Krios. He was holding his daughter up by the neck and she was struggling, kicking and screaming. I was actually kind of proud of her for fighting, but then he squeezed just a little bit harder, and he snapped her neck. Right in front of us, he killed his own daughter to make a point!".

Xavier began to shake, and he drifted apart from the rest of the group so that he didn't accidentally burn them in his anger. His eyes burst into flames even though he was still crying, and his pen that turned into his two golden swords seemed to grow heavier and warmer in his pocket.

"It's okay… let it out, Xave", Percy soothed. He knew from experience that once Xavier got on a roll with his feelings, he wouldn't stop until everything was off of his chest.

Percy held in his thoughts and worries, but when it came to his emotions he wouldn't hesitate to plunge an entire country into a deep freeze. Xavier was the opposite, he was very expressive about his thoughts, but he held all of his feelings inside of him, and when he let them out, bad things tended to happen.

Percy surrounded the rest of the group in an aura of cold just in case Xavier lost control.

Xavier stopped shaking, but he still looked upset, and his eyes were still aflame.

"Needless to say we all freaked out. Kayla was everybody's little sister, we all loved her, and Krios had just murdered her. We pushed our plan forward and leaped at our parents who were all gathered. They yelled at us for being traitors to our own kind, they told us that they had given us life and that we should be grateful. We just yelled at them about how they weren't and never would be our family. It was kind of like our last stand", he smiled bitterly to himself.

"We probably could have won, Hyperion was off doing who knows what in Manhattan, Oceanus was attacking Poseidon's palace under the ocean. We had heard rumours of the resistance of our forces by the demigods, and that only motivated us the fight harder. But we weren't ready, we weren't battle hardened in the slightest, and we didn't know what we were getting into. Out of the 9 of us that remained, I was the only one to survive. The tunnels underground Mt. Orthrys where most of us had been living since we were born were destroyed completely in the battle, Jake and I made sure of that".

Xavier's body now emitted no glow at all, he curled in on himself as he fell, and rather than let all of his emotions out in a fiery explosion like Percy half expected him to (that's what he would have done), Xavier mourned for his lost siblings just like any normal mortal would have. He cried. His body shook, his warm comforting aura all but disappeared, and he couldn't stop reliving his last moments with his brother.

Flashback:

They ran down the long never-ending tunnel, leaving everything they had ever known behind. Xavier didn't want to believe it, but deep in his heart he knew that all of his other siblings were dead. They had been separated, and allowing it had been their biggest mistake. It was only by pure luck that he had found Jake again amidst all the chaos. Together they had run and never looked back.

Each of his siblings' death weighed on his mind, and it was like there was a hot dagger stabbing him in the heart every time he felt one of them pass into Hades' realm. He just hoped that the Lord of the Underworld would show mercy on them and look on their final heroic moments rather then judging them for who their parents were.

A breeze blew past them down the tunnel coming from directly ahead. There were slight granules of sand and dirt as well as the scent of flowers and grass, something he never thought he'd smell ever again. They were going to make it.

"Come on, Jake! We're almost there!", he yelled back.

They couldn't run as fast as they probably could of. Both had been injured in the fight, Xavier with a large burn mark right beneath his ribcage on his right side from a concentrated blast of sunlight that he wasn't able to deflect in time from his father, and Jake with his knee that had swollen to almost twice its size and was twisted at an extremely unnatural angle.

If they could just get out of this Chaos forsaken fortress then they could hide somewhere. They would run away and finally be free from fighting other people's wars.

Just when the feeling of hope began to bloom in his chest, he noticed ice beginning to creep along the walls on either side of them.

Koios.

The sneaky bastard had to be here somewhere, but they didn't have time to look for him, all they could do was try and push themselves to run faster, to outrun the ice that chased them down even when they had already sacrificed so much.

He fought back tears as he thought of the others they had left behind. Their older brother Oliver who had jumped in front of a spear aimed for their younger sister Leila. She had held him and cried while he died, slowly bleeding out from the wound in his stomach, just to be smacked aside and impaled on another spear held by their uncle Iapetus. Her bright green eyes had widened in pain and fear as she choked on her own blood before they had dimmed and she had gone limp. They would never even get the chance to go back and get their bodies, give them proper death rites.

Xavier wiped away the tears that had managed to escape. Their sacrifice was the reason that he and Jake had to live. At least they had to make it out, to tell their story and let their siblings' legacy live on.

The entire tunnel shuddered, and the walls began to crack and groan from the stress of the explosions that his little brother Alex had died setting off. His sweet, handy baby brother with the sparkling silver eyes had sacrificed himself when the timer mechanism on their homemade bomb had malfunctioned. They had no time to escape the cavern before it would go off, and they could only watch as Alex had shoved them out of the cavern with promises to follow later before running back and setting off the bomb, despite the fact that his body would be blown apart.

The ground shook from the weight of the heavy footfalls of those that followed them. Koios and Helios, his father, rounded the corner just as they reached the exit.

A thick layer of ice formed over their only way out, blocking them in the tunnel with his maniac father and Uncle. Xavier's hands immediately heated up, and he shot blast after blast of sun energy at the ice in an attempt to melt it, but every time some of it would melt more ice would grown in its place. He screamed in frustration and anger.

"Jake! You have to distract them! I can't melt the ice while he keeps making it come back!".

His twin in all but blood nodded with a determined glint in his eyes, despite his mangled leg, and ran at the two titans now slowly approaching them like predators stalk their prey. Before they could react, he came at them with a thunderous punch that startled Koios and knocked him back. Ichor dripped from his now broken nose, and Helios' eyes lit on fire with rage.

"You insolent brat!", he yelled before jumping in and joining the fight.

Jake was able to hold his own for a while, though he was constantly on the defensive and just barely able to dodge and duck underneath their blows which flew at him with godly speed.

Still, it worked, Koios was distracted and when Xavier melted the ice it stayed melted. It was around a meter thick, and Xavier was just barely able to carve a tunnel big enough for them to crawl through to the other side.

He turned around to shout for Jake just as his father managed to get in a lucky shot and disarmed him. There was a moment of silence when time seemed to slow down; the tunnel continued to shake as it was too unstable to support its own weight anymore, Jake's eyes flicked towards the water that was on the floor from the melted ice, and his father's lips quirked in a sadistic smile.

There was nothing he could do, and Jake knew it. He met his eyes one last time, deep blue on watery gold, and mouthed one word, 'Go!', before throwing the water at Helios and launching himself at Koios. Xavier couldn't leave, not without his best friend and brother, but as he watched, Koios snarled, a jagged length of ice flew at Jake made of the water he had thrown at Helios, and impaled him right through the heart.

Crimson blood spilt on the floor, Jake slid off the end of the knife and collapsed to the ground with his head lolled towards Xavier who was staring at him in horror.

'Love you', he mouthed before Koios' foot came down and crushed his windpipe, instantly killing him.

Flashback End:

"Jake and I almost made it out, but Koios and Helios caught up with us before we could. He sacrificed himself so that I could live, but now I'm all alone", he concluded in a soft voice that could barely be heard above the rushing air.

Tears still dripped down his face, but now he wiped them away angrily.

"So yeah… I lived on the streets for a couple of years. Probably would have just killed myself after a while, but Chaos found me before it got to that point and offered me a second chance".

Annabeth nodded her head, looking quite satisfied with the amount of information that Xavier gave her about his past. Most of the others around the circle, though, just looked sympathetic. All demigods had a hard life. Something horrible happening to them was practically like an initiation ceremony into the mythological world. But Xavier's story was worse than anybody's, especially since it happened when he was just barely a child.

Percy wanted nothing more than to grab his friend, open his wings and drill him to see if he was okay. But he knew that that would never work, Xavier just needed some time to emerge from his own memories and shake himself out of it.

Gradually, the glow that always came off of Xavier began to return, and he looked up at the rest of the group.

From across the circle, Percy mouthed, 'You okay?'.

Xavier just nodded and turned to Jason who had broken the silence.

"For what it's worth, man. I'm really sorry all that happened to you".

"Yeah. We've all had hard lives, but I think you take the cake", Leo agreed.

Xavier spared them a small smile before his expression hardened and he was brought back to the matter at hand.

The never-ending dark tunnel that they had been falling through for the past what felt like days began to get lighter. An eerie red light originated from somewhere below them, and suddenly, the tunnel that they had been falling through gave way to an enormous cavern. They fell through blood red clouds that stung their skin, and the others could just gape as the landscape of Tartarus was laid out before them. Sharp black rocks that Percy knew to be as sharp as glass jutted up in random places to create spires and mountains with caves that monsters could hide in. In the distance, the Phlegethon cut a fiery path through the dark terrain, and below them ran another river. It was strangely white coloured, and even from the great height Percy could hear the anguished voices crying out from its depths.

Looks like nothing's changed.

He took all of this in in a second having already known what he would find, but most of the others were still gaping stupidly as they continued to fall through the now limited air.

"Guys! Come on, pay attention! You can take in the beautiful scenery later. Annabeth, how did you want to do this?".

Annabeth, of course, had been there before too, but she still had to shake her head to clear it before she could answer.

"I was thinking that since you guys have control over the winds that maybe you could just lower us down gently on the ground?".

Now all of the group's attention was focused on them, and both he and Xavier nodded before closing their eyes in concentration.

Percy was the first to wince.

"Yeah, I don't think that's going to happen for me".

"Me either. They're being really stubborn".

"What?", Annabeth asked confused, casting another nervous glance below them at the rapidly approaching ground.

"There are no wind spirits down here for us to control, so that leaves only one option with regards to the wind, and that's to summon some spirits from the surface", Xavier explained.

"Exactly, but last time I asked the northern wind spirits to do something they didn't want to do, they through a temper tantrum and destroyed half of Denmark. That took forever to clean up", Percy said, shaking his head.

"Wait, that was you?", Frank asked, but Annabeth interrupted before he could explain further.

"Guys! If you haven't noticed, we are literally falling into Tartarus! Now if you don't want to end up as a demigod pancake, I suggest you all shut up and help us come up with a solution!".

Leo's face blanched, but Percy just smiled at her fondly.

Now that's the wise girl that he knows and loves.

Seeing his expression, she raised an eyebrow at him in challenge, and he quickly did as she said and got back to the task at hand.

"When we fell in here the first time, I used the river to catch our fall, but Xavier and I wouldn't be able to survive that a second time".

Annabeth nodded her head in understanding and sympathy, but the others were still confused as to what he was talking about. The only one who had a slight clue being Nico.

"What do you mean? What's so bad about a river? And if you guys can't survive it, what makes you think that we can?", Piper asked, casting the occasional nervous look below them to the rapidly approaching ground.

"You want to catch us with the Cocytus don't you?", Nico asked.

Percy only nodded.

"Can someone please explain what's going on? I don't like being in the dark about decisions like this", Jason said, exasperated.

Percy looked to Nico, and he nodded before turning back to Jason to explain.

"The Cocytus River is the river of misery. It whispers to you and tries to get you to give up. It's very dangerous, and it's said that just one drop can make somebody kill themselves. So if we're going to jump into it, then you all need to hold onto and remember the one thing in your life that makes you purely happy. The one thing that the river could never corrupt. You have to hold it in the front of your mind and get out of the water as fast as you can".

"Okay? Everybody got that?", Annabeth half asked half yelled around the circle. Everybody nodded.

"Good. I'll try to keep you as dry as I can, but the Rivers of the Underworld are tricky and more difficult to control, so try and get out as quickly as possible. Xavier and I will meet you on the banks and help you all out".

There were more nods and nervous glances towards the water below them.

Xavier and Percy exchanged a glance and opened their wings at the same time, pulling back from the free fall that the others were still in. Percy waited until their grips were all secure before focusing on the cold aura of the river below them. His domain over the cold made this river slightly easier to control then all the others, but only slightly. Sweat beaded on his brow, and he held out one hand in front of him. Nothing happened.

Just when Xavier was about to ask him if he was okay, he opened his eyes which were glowing icy blue with power and the entire stretch of visible river shot into the air in a pillar of water.

Those still in the free-falling circle held each other's hands in grips so tight they were borderline painful, but nobody minded. This river was potent, and they all needed a nice reminder of family every once and a while.

With one last nervous glance at the others around the circle, they braced themselves, and a force of freezing water slammed into them at full force.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Sup guys! I know, early chapter, how awesome am I? Just kidding, I'm actually procrastinating on studying by writing instead, but whatever, as long as I'm being productive!**

 **(That was sarcasm if you didn't notice. I'm not actually that cheerful)**

 **This one isn't as long as the last one, but after this we should get into their journey a little bit more. More fight scenes coming up for sure! If you have any suggestions for any monsters that you'd like to see them run into, please PM me. I'm open to all suggestions.**

 **Hope you like it! And as always, please review!**

When the water hit, Nico felt like he had been hit by a truck. It was freezing, and the cold seeped into his body right down to his bones. But he didn't really have time to focus on that as as soon as the water hit, the whispering tones of the river invaded his mind, and he was thrown back into his own memories.

Nico had been walking for what felt like forever. It didn't help that there wasn't exactly much 'scenery' in the Underworld. Everywhere he looked was the same, but at least now he was out of the Fields of Asphodel. He was at the very edge of his father's domain, somewhere that he had never really explored before, but he was determined to continue on. He could feel them. The Doors of Death seemed to radiate their own sort of power, and even though he had never seen them before, he knew what it was that he was feeling.

He was getting close, the tugging in the pit of his stomach seemed to grow stronger, and Nico began to walk through the gravelly terrain faster.

Suddenly, a fog descended on the area around him. It wasn't normal fog, he could tell that much at least. But he didn't know what it was or if it was dangerous. It was a dark slate grey and seemed to suck the already minimal light out of everything around him. It clung to his body and clothes far more than normal fog would, and even though he didn't know what it was, he did know one thing: he had to get out of here.

So he stumbled forward faster, far faster than he normally would have walked when exploring a new area, especially in the Underworld, but he was desperate to escape the fog. He could feel it doing something to his body, his skin looked even paler than usual, yellow even, even dark circles formed under his eyes, his lips turned blue and his cheeks sunk in. He looked just like a walking corpse, and he didn't like it one bit.

Finally, he came across a cave. The incessant pull in his gut that he had been following on his search for the Doors seemed to grow the strongest here, and he saw that there was no fog within the cave, so he stumbled forward.

A tingling on the back of his neck kept insisting that something was wrong here, that the doors should have been more heavily guarded, they should have been more obvious, but, like an idiot, he ignored it.

He was quite far into the cave when he began to hear the dark chantings of the pit and feel the dark energy and smell the blood that emanated from there. It was then that he realised what was going on, but it was then that it was too late.

The entire pit inhaled, he clawed and screamed and fought but he was no match for it, it was too strong and he was pulled over the edge.

He fell into the never ending darkness of the pit, his heart filled with fear, all by himself.

Nico was jolted out of his memories and remembered his own words to the others before they fell into the water. He floundered around in his own brain for something that made him truly happy, but the voices of the river spoke in his ear louder, drowning out his own thoughts with their whisperings of misery.

All alone. All alone. Nobody ever wanted you. Nobody ever needed you. Waste of space.

Tears streamed from his eyes and he was thrust back into another memory.

All he remembered was seeing two hulking figures above him before he was knocked out and put into his prison. He could tell that he was out of Tartarus, but he wasn't so sure that wherever he was now was much better. In fact, he knew that it wasn't much better.

He was stuck in what appeared to be a giant jar. It was barely large enough to hold him, and it was certainly not large enough to contain enough oxygen to allow him to survive for the 5 days that he overheard the giants saying he would be stuck in there for.

He had given up trying to break the jar a while ago in favour of conserving oxygen, but he knew that no matter what he did, there wasn't enough.

His pockets seemed to weigh heavier as more options for survival were cast aside.

"The seeds…", his mind whispered. But he didn't want to use those. They were his last option, one that he could only use if he had no choice. "What do you think is happening now?", his mind scolded.

He could feel his breath coming shorter now, there wasn't much oxygen left.

With shaky hands, he reached into his pocket and laid out his pomegranate seeds. He only had five. His hands shook violently as he picked the first one up and brought it closer to his mouth.

As soon as he ate this, as soon as he was in this state, he would be completely vulnerable. He wouldn't be able to do anything to fight or protect himself.

"I'm sorry guys. I love you Hazel".

Those were his last words before he popped the seed into his mouth and his world went dark.

He thrashed around even more wildly this time. He needed to breathe, he needed to focus. He could feel his soul dissolving into the river, he was letting go. Memory after memory flashed through his mind and he could only scream and cry out at each one because they hurt. Having to go through such things and know that you don't and never will belong hurt.

But then he felt something next to him jolt his leg. One of the others, he could feel their presences leaving as they were able to escape from the river. One by one they found something in their lives that made them happy enough to escape the whisperings of the Cocytus. And one by one they left him, just like everybody else in his life has.

Another memory flashed behind his eyes.

He groaned as he came to. His left eye cracked open, and then his right before they both shut again to shut out the bright sunlight that filtered through the window. He tried again to open his eyes, and this time he found that he was just barely able to.

He pushed his hands against the bed beneath him and pushed back so that he back was resting against the headboard of the bed so he could look around.

His head pounded, and his throat felt like the Sahara Desert. Spotting a glass of water on the bedside table, he snatched it up and gulped it down greedily. He immediately felt better, and that's when he was able to finally realise just where he was.

The infirmary.

"Well at least that explains the overabundance of sunlight", his brain thought. He never kept the shades in his cabin open.

Someone had taken his shirt off and had connected him to some sort of machine that was set up next to him and made steady beeping sounds.

"That's a heart rate monitor".

He jumped half way out of his skin.

He turned around and came face to face with… Will Solace.

Oh Hades no. (sorry dad).

He blushed red at there proximity, and then blushed a brighter red when he realised his shirt was still off and Will could see all of the scars that decorated his upper body.

"Um… Why am I here?".

Smooth… Real smooth.

Will just ignored his question and answered with one of his own.

"Nico, how many times do I have to tell you not to do any more of that Underworldy stuff? It drains you too much, you almost started to fade again!", Will said, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation.

Nico was confused. Was that… concern on Will's face. Why would Will care about him?

"Um… sorry…?", it came out as more of a question than a response, and Will just shook his head at him.

"Well sorry isn't going to cut it. It looks like you're just going to have to stay here in the infirmary with the on-call doctor for the next three days for observation".

Nico groaned. "Who's the on-call doctor".

"Me of course!", he replied, smiling brightly.

Nico felt his cheeks heat up again under the brilliance of that smile. Skeletal butterflies fluttered around in his stomach, and the beeping on the machine next to him got faster.

"I think… I'd be okay with that", he answered in a small voice.

Will smiled another one of his radiant smiles, and handed him a flask of nectar.

"Great! Now then, drink up!".

A warm feeling filled his body from head to toe, and the whisperings in his ear from the river grew softer and less insistent.

"Don't worry… I've got you… It's all going to be okay now… Shhh".

Will's comforting voice drifted through his mind, and Nico could feel his essence stop draining away from him. The world around him came into focus, and with it, he heard the sounds of his friends from the bank.

"Where's Nico?".

"Oh gods…".

"NICO!".

'That was his sister, Hazel, somebody who loves him, somebody who's worth fighting for because they believe that he is worth fighting for. Somebody who would fall apart if he died', he reminded himself.

He began to struggle again, trying to break through the surface, trying the fight against the strength of the current that was trying to hold him down.

His sister's cries and the warm feeling from his memories of, his now boyfriend, Will combined to give him strength, and he felt himself break the surface.

He crawled out of the water and gulped in huge breaths of air that burned like acid as they went down, but provided him with much needed air nonetheless. His head pounded, his vision and hearing were beginning to tunnel, and the glass rocks that made up the shore were digging into his skin, drawing blood in some places.

He heard voices from farther down the shore behind where he was now laying on his side.

"Where is he?", he heard Hazel ask, a bit of hysteria making its way into her voice. "He should be out by now. The rest of us crawled out ten minutes ago".

He could hear the sound of scuffling feet and could only assume that the rest of the quest members were walking along the shore looking for him. He wanted to cry out and let them know that he was there, that he had beat the river and the he was fine. But he was too weak to move, too weak to cry out, too weak to do anything more than lay there. Fighting the river had taken everything he had, and now he wanted nothing more than to just go to sleep.

He heard wings beating through the air, and a flash of gold glinted in his field of vision while a wave of cold passed over him. Percy and Xavier were both in the air, using their wings to get a higher vantage point to look for him.

"Hazel, we might have to begin to consider the possibility that—", Annabeth started, but Hazel cut her off.

"NO! He's strong enough. I know he is, I know he can push them away! He's going to come out, I believe in him we just have to wait for a little bit longer".

"Hey guys! Over here!", Xavier called.

A wave of warm air washed over him, and he smiled slightly, it reminded him of the warm sunlight in the infirmary. It was the only time he would ever admit that he might actually like the sun.

The sound of running footsteps made their way towards him, and he could feel warm hands roll him over so that he was on his back and looking up. Xavier was hovering over him, and the faces of all of his friends soon joined him as they ran over to him.

"Oh gods, what's wrong with him?", Hazel asked. His eyes locked onto hers and a tear formed in his eye.

"He started to dissolve but the process was stopped by something, probably a happy memory that he remembered in time to save himself", Percy's voice spoke from where he was standing above him. "Does anybody have any ambrosia or nectar, he needs energy, the river literally stole everything he had".

Annabeth nodded and fumbled with something in her bag before an entire square was thrust into his mouth. Normally that would be too much, but right now he felt like he needed it, and the others must have thought so too, because he ate the entire thing.

Immediately warm and energy washed over him, and he gasped for air much more deeply than the shallow, barely-noticeable breaths he had been taking earlier. He jolted upright, and then cried out in pain as the sharp glass of the banks cut into his skin.

"Nico!", he was immediately enveloped in a hug by Hazel's small form, and he hugged her back tightly. Tears were running down her face, and Nico even had a few of his own that escaped and dripped off his chin.

"I'm sorry, Hazel. It was almost too hard. You brought me back, though. You and Will brought me back".

She laughed and cried even harder, and one by one the other quest members stepped forward and gave him hugs or pats on the shoulder. He wasn't normally a fan of hugs, but he figured that maybe just this once he could make an exception. After all, it isn't everyday you almost dissolve into one of the five rivers of the Underworld.

More gently this time, he pushed himself up off the ground and managed to stand up without getting too cut up. And then, the most shocking thing to happen to him about this entire trip happened (and that's saying a lot).

He heard the sound of wing beats and then was suddenly surrounded in cold and darkness. He began to struggle against whatever had him before he heard the voice and stopped out of pure shock and confusion.

"I'm so sorry, Nico! I should have remembered! You've had a lot of stuff happen to you, too. Just, don't listen to anything that river said, okay? It's not true, any of it". He was much too stunned to reply.

Percy, the boy who was now- how Charon so eloquently put it- the shadowy ice guy, was giving him a hug.

Nico shook himself out of his shock and found his voice.

"It's okay, Percy, really. Why do you care so much?".

Percy retracted his wings from where they had been wrapped around the smaller boy, which Nico realised were the things that made everything seem to go dark, and looked him straight in the eyes. Scar or no Nico still thought that the scariest thing about Percy was his eyes. They seemed to look right through him, and it made Nico slightly uncomfortable.

"Your my cousin Nico. We're family. Of course I care", he said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and despite himself, Nico felt tears begin to well up in his eyes.

Nobody wants you.

Oh shut up, you stupid river.

Nico spared his cousin a small smile and murmured, "Thanks" so quietly he began to wonder if Percy had even heard him.

Percy squeezed his shoulder one more time before turning back to face the rest of the group who were all trying to give them their space.

Xavier was watching the entire interaction with an unbearably sad look in his eyes. Their relationship reminded him so much of the one he had had with his older brother, Oliver. But now he was gone.

He shoved those thoughts aside. Now wasn't the time for self-pity, he had a quest to co-lead.

Percy walked back over with Nico in tow, and the group came together again.

"So… what's our next move? Where do we go from here?", Piper asked, looking around and examining their hellish surroundings warily.

Annabeth and Percy made eye contact across the group.

"Now? Now we go drink some liquid fire".


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N:**

 **H-H-Hey, guys. How's it going? How's everybody been? Good? Good, good. I've been fine too. You know, still alive and everything.**

 **Please don't kill me!**

 **I promise I have a perfectly reasonable explanation for this.**

 **So back at the end of Year 10 when I last updated, I had exams that I was stressing for. But when _those_ were over, I got super into crossovers. And at first I just obsessively read them like I obsessively read regular Percy Jackson fics upon my original introduction to this lovely, lovely website. However, that soon escalated into writing my own which I then posted on my account on Wattpad (same account name and everything in case your not totally pissed at me and want to go check it out). **

**So there's that. And then there's now. Just before Winter Break of Year 11 and I've got _more_ exams. Oh joy! Except these actually means something and are important and are totally something you shouldn't be procrastinating on like I am.**

 **So yeah... Sorry for making you suffer and wait for so long! At least it wasn't a cliff-hanger (looking at you Rick Riordan **cough couch Mark of Athena *cough). Hopefully after Mocks are over and Winter Break starts I'll have plenty of writing time to get back into the swing of things. But for now? Yeah... this is it.**

 **As always, hope you guys enjoy the chapter! Feel free to leave a review, I always love hearing from you (even if it's just to rant at me about how long I've been gone).**

 **Stay nerdy, my lovelies! :3**

The group of questers trudged through the hellish landscape of Tartarus. It seemed to go on forever, and the rising and falling malevolent dark purple ground was all they could see. Far away in the distance to their right, what appeared to be huge mountains rose up. Their peaks couldn't be seen through the clouds of blood that hovered rather low to the ground. Ahead of them, in the direction that Percy was leading them, was a cliff. An eerie orange light glowed from somewhere over the edge, and the horrible smell of sulphur grew stronger the closer to it they walked.

Hazel coughed into her fisted hand. But that simple cough soon turned into a hacking fit that had her stopping in her tracks.

"Hazel? Are you okay? What's wrong?", Frank asked, concerned.

She waved him away with her free hand, but the movement caused her to stumble.

He was instantly by her side, steadying her. And this time, she let him.

When she finally stopped coughing, the hand she had been using to cover her mouth came away red with her blood, only serving to alarm the group even further.

"What's happening? What's wrong with her?", Frank asked frantically, as his girlfriend's small frame leaned heavily against him. Nico seemed to materialise on her other side.

Percy's face was grim, and he exchanged a look with Annabeth.

"We have to keep moving. The air down here is toxic. If we breathe this for much longer we'll die", Percy said.

The group looked to Annabeth for confirmation, and she nodded. "It's probably affecting Hazel first right now because she's smaller. We have to hurry".

Frank changed into a horse, and Nico helped a dizzy Hazel to climb on his back so that he could carry her.

"The Phlegethon's just up ahead here. That's what we brought the water bottles for. The water will help us stand the effects of the air".

By the time they made it to the edge of the cliff where they could climb down, almost everybody in the group was beginning to wilt. Percy, Xavier, Annabeth, and Nico all seemed to have a stronger resistance to the air, but even they would need the healing qualities of the fire water soon.

Hazel had passed out, and Frank the horse was carrying them on his back, though he, too, was beginning to stumble.

"Percy, she's fading", Nico said quietly, smoothing back the hair that had stuck itself to his sister's sweaty forehead.

Leo walked alongside Piper, doing the beat he could to help Jason support her as they neared the edge. His eyes were half-lidded, and blood crusted at the corners of his mouth. His lungs sounded like tissue paper as he breathed in and out, and it was only getting worse.

Finally, the group reached the edge of the cliff and came to a halt. They needed the water, badly. But it was at least a 50 foot climb down a sheer cliff to get there.

Percy turned, and, along with Annabeth and Xavier, started to collect everybody's water bottles so they could go down at fill them up for them. It was obvious they were in no shape to do it for themselves.

Jason and Leo worked together to lower Piper to the ground, trying to avoid getting her too cut up on the rough ground. When Annabeth came around to collect their bottles, Leo took a step back and reached towards the clip that attached it to his belt. Only, there was no ground left for him to step back to. His eyes widened, but with his reflexes inhibited the way they were by the toxic environment around them, he could do nothing to stop himself as he fell over the edge.

"LEO!", Jason yelled out, running to the edge and stretching out his hand to hopefully catch his friend, but it was no use.

Leo's body seemed to glow from the light of the river beneath him, and time seemed to slow down as he feel. Even from so far above him at the cliff's edge, his quest mates and friends could see the sadness in his eyes as he looked up at them.

He grinned, his signature joker's grin that they all now knew was fake, and mouthed two words to them before his eyes closed and he was engulfed by the unforgiving fiery waters.

" _I'm sorry"._

Piper, who had been momentarily shocked back to consciousness by Jason's yell, screamed and cried as she watched her friend disappear. Black dots clouded her vision, and she welcomed them, hoping against all hopes that what she had just seen was just a nightmare and that when she woke up everybody would be fine right there beside her like they were supposed to be.

Jason just stared at the spot where Leo had fallen in, waiting in vain for his best friend to emerge from the waters, somehow completely fine as he always was. It didn't happen. And gradually, piece by piece, Jason could feel his hope crumbling the longer he stared. He sank to his knees, next to his now unconscious girlfriend.

 _How long had they been down here?_

It felt like an eternity already, but he knew it had actually only been about a couple of hours. Only a couple of hours and they were already down a quest member. Only a couple of hours… and Leo was gone.

—

Xavier could feel his friend's intense grief through the link they shared as the two of them glided over the river, desperately searching for any sight of the fallen Leo.

By his reckoning, their search had begun about an hour ago now, and with every passing hour the feeling of hopelessness seemed to get more intense. The rest of their group was back resting at the cliffside after suffering through the effects of the river water. They were all fine, and their reactions would have been almost comical if their resident jokester hadn't just fallen off of a cliff and into a river made of fire in the middle of hell. Needless to say, nobody felt like laughing. Or talking. Or doing much of anything.

He knew that they had to head back. And he knew that Percy knew it too.

It was never good to stay in one place for too long in Tartarus. But _six_ demigods as powerful as their friends were? They were bound to attract unwanted attention. Lots of it.

Percy nodded his head when the two of them made eye contact. His emotions were already skilfully hidden behind the mask that he always wore. The only evidence that he cared at all about what had just happened to one of his best friends was the clenching of his jaw and overall tensing of his body.

Xavier knew his friend well enough by now to know that he blamed Leo's death on himself. He also knew that it _wasn't_ his fault. But the only way to convince Percy of that was by telling him that over and over and over again for a couple of years. Which was time they most definitely didn't have right now.

" _C'mon, Perce. We have to get back. We can't leave the others on their own for too long. They're just sitting ducks"_ , he said through their mind link.

Percy didn't respond, just turning around and flying back the way they had come towards their friends. A wave of cold air and a single frozen teardrop followed in his wake.

—

It had taken a lot of convincing to get Jason and Piper to leave after they had returned without Leo. The whole group was about as healthy as they could be in Tartarus at this point and were physically ready to move. But mentally? What now remained of the original nine knew that once they left it would be like they had given up: like they were accepting his death and just moving on. Even Nico couldn't serve to give them any closure. His death senses were all muddled up, and though he had certainly felt something weird with Leo's death, he wasn't sure what it was. After all, no mortal had ever died in Tartarus before. They weren't completely sure what would happen.

What _did_ get them to finally move on was a horde of monsters. They all knew the monsters would eventually come. How could they _not_ with their combined scent? What the two guardians did _not_ expect, however, was for their two friends' grief to suddenly and violently transition to anger.

Piper and Jason threw themselves into the battle with the scattering of empusai and dracaena. Overall, they weren't very hard monsters to fight. But there were a lot of them, and the two had completely demolished them in under two minutes before storming off to find something else to subject to their ire.

Percy just shook his head in both fondness and sadness at the reaction of his two friends before moving to follow them, prompting the rest of the group to do the same.

As they walked, the terrain began to change under their feet. Instead of sharp, glass-like rocks, they now found themselves trudging through sand in a desert that they could of sworn wasn't there two seconds ago. The Phlegethon still ran as raging as ever off to their left, but none of the group could stand to look at it for long before having to look away.

Every once and a while, a shadow would flash from above their head, and an eerie cackling sound could be heard from amongst the clouds of blood. Every time they looked up to see if they could catch a glimpse, however, the mysterious creatures were nowhere to be seen.

Needless to say, it put their nerves on edge. Especially when the cackling began to clarify into certain words in the Old Tongue that neither Percy nor Xavier liked the sound of at all.

Nico and Annabeth, the only other two of the questers to recognise the language as a language, too looked nervous. Anything old enough to speak that language was definitely bad news.

Jason, who had been leading the group with the fuel of vengeance in the forefront of his mind, suddenly drew to a halt. The shuffling in the sand caused by their footsteps ceased and was replaced by silence.

"What are we—"

"Shh!", Jason held up a finger and interrupted whatever Frank was about to ask. "Listen".

Suddenly, they heard it.

Percy and Xavier looked at each other and simultaneously shot into the air, drawing their weapons just as the word that caused their reactions reached the others' ears.

" _Ambush"_

The others couldn't see what was happening in the fight above the clouds, but sporadic flashes of light and loud screeching sounds cued them in to the fact that it was a furious fight. Meanwhile, their stalkers still had yet to reveal themselves. Though they had certainly made themselves heard.

Low, spine-tingling growls that they all recognised as those from hellhounds sounded from all around them.

Annabeth knew they were surrounded: she could feel it.

"Close ranks!", she yelled to the others. They formed a circle, guarding each others backs and slowly turning in a circle to keep an eye on the gloom around them.

Nico, with the one with the best eyesight in the dark among them, was the first to see the first attack.

"Annabeth! Look out!", he yelled, throwing one of his throwing daggers and getting a lucky hit as the small piece of Stygian Iron struck the beast in the eye. It disappeared in a cloud of yellow monster dust. But the death of their leader only served to enrage the rest of the pack as, all at once, they attacked.

The tight circle was forced to separate in order to make room to fight, and the pack of hellhounds took advantage of that, wedging themselves in between the quest members until they could no longer see one another.

Piper was a flurry of destruction. Her knife was short but very deadly as it flashed between ribs and across throats. Her braids whipped over her shoulder as she turned her head, desperately searching through the sea of mangy black fur for her friends. But all she could see were brief flashes.

These hellhounds were bigger than any of the ones she had ever had to fight on the surface, and even as her knife found fatal points on their monstrous bodies they would not die. Their eyes burned red with hell fire, and their paws as big as her entire torso had no trouble gaining purchase on the shifting sands.

A pained yell that she recognised as belonging to Frank sounded from somewhere behind her, and that single moment of distraction was all they needed.

The hellhound she had been attempting to kill for the last five minutes pounced. As it flew through the air, time seemed to slow down. She was off-balanced, her knife on the other side of her body after a missed swipe. There was no way she'd get it back in front of her in time to protect herself.

" _Stop!",_ she yelled, her voice was filled with so much power, that everybody across the battlefield immediately did as she demanded, even Percy and Xavier, hundreds of feet above the ground in the midst of their own battle felt the effects of her words wash over them.

She rolled out from under the beast, but her charm speak had less effect on those less-intelligent monsters such as hellhounds. They weren't restrained by her command for nearly as long as they should have been, and the pouncing hellhounds claws caught her around her left side.

She screamed as she felt the jagged edge tear through her flesh. Pain hazed her vision, and it was all she could do to slash through the exposed throat of the monster that had injured her before she stumbled over and collapsed in the sand.

Jason's electric blue eyes widened as he saw her stumble and fall to the ground with a pool of blood steadily growing larger around her.

" _Piper!_ ".

The demigods immediately closed ranks around her, protecting her the best they could by placing her on the inside of their roughly formed semicircle.

They had fought fiercely, but even after having killed close to fifteen hellhounds, it seemed as though another fifteen simply stepped up to replace them.

Their backs were to the river that had already claimed the life of one of their friends, and another one slowly bled out behind them as they were forced closer and closer together.

The hellhounds snarled as they closed in. After the frenzy of battle, they seemed to take great satisfaction they saw in the sight of their cornered prey.

Just as Jason thought he might be doomed to see his best friend again sooner than he thought, a loud unnatural gurgling from the river behind them drew whatever tense last moments they were about to have to a screeching halt.

There was a moment of complete silence before the river suddenly exploded into a tall geyser of liquid fire. The light it cast set the entire landscape in a sort of demonic, truly hellish light that monster and demigod alike couldn't help but stare at in a kind of horrified awe.

The wave crested, and nobody but Leo Valdez himself, their resident dead man strolled out to stand on the very top of it as if he owned it. A dangerous smirk lit up his face, and his brown irises danced with flames.

"Did you miss me?", he called out in a low voice that matched his smirk perfectly. His arms were held out to either side of him in his typical dramatic fashion, a flame burning in each palm.

The pack of hellhounds attempted to turn-tail and run, but small tendrils of fire only reached out from the river and engulfed them. Their pain-filled howls filled air, but it was soon replaced by silence as they were reduced to nothing more than ash amidst an infinite amount of sand.

The hellhounds were gone, they were alive, and most importantly, their resident Repair Boy had returned from the dead. _Again._


	23. Chapter 23

" _You!_ You _idiot_!", Jason yelled after a moment of tense silence.

Nico smirked and dropped to a knee by Piper's side to help heal her. Watching the rest of them beat him up would be satisfaction enough for him.

"H-Hey, guys", Leo's eyes widened and his palms lost their fire. "What's up?".

"What's up? _What's up?!_ ", Jason yelled incredulously. He flew forward and punched him right in the nose before wrapping him up in a tight hug not even a second later. "Don't you _ever_ do that again!".

The yelling continued, but Nico tuned out, turning his attention, instead, to Annabeth and Hazel who were struggling to help an injured Frank hobble towards them. He jumped up to help, and soon they had both Piper and Frank laying side by side.

"Annabeth, get out the nectar. And Hazel, break off some small bits of ambrosia and give it to them. Not too much, though, okay?". They both nodded, and he turned to dig through his pack for supplies. "Here. Pour the nectar in this tin", he said, gesturing to the small tin plate he had brought with him for emergencies. He ripped off a few lengths of bandages with his teeth and hurriedly put them in the dish of nectar to soak.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at his methods, and he blushed.

"Will taught me a few things".

"Oh my gods. You two are literally so adorable", Piper said with a chuckle that soon turned into a grimace of pain. Her hand went to her wounded side and she hissed and turned away. "How's Frank?".

"I'm fine. It was a stupid mistake. I should have seen it behind me. It's just a little cut on my leg. It's not even that deep". Piper gave him a skeptical look but didn't comment.

Nico set to work, squeezing out any excess nectar back into the dish and beginning to wrap Piper's wound with the soaked bandages. Piper turned towards her newly living friend and boyfriend to distract herself from the pain.

"You two, get over here! And Jason, stopping hitting him before he decides to go and die again. And _you_ ", she said, narrowing her eyes dangerously at her friend, "We _will_ be talking about this later, Repair Boy".

Leo gulped comically, but even despite her threat the two of them made their way over to her side.

"Piper and Frank won't be walking again anytime soon. We might as well camp here for the night. Or whatever counts as night here", Nico said, finishing up with Piper and shuffling over a few feet to help Frank.

"Agreed. Plus, we still don't know where Xavier and Percy went or when they'll be back". Leaving Nico to helping Frank, Annabeth stood up and then crouched over where they had all dumped their bags. "We need to set up camp, we have Leo to set the fire, but we don't have anything to burn. Stupid, should have brought some wood or something. Maybe we could go to the Cursed Wood? No, that's a horrible idea, what are you thinking?", she mumbled to herself as she rummaged through the packs.

"Um, guys? _Guys_ , you might want to look at this", Hazel said nervously from where she stood at the edge of their camp area.

Annabeth huffed at being interrupted from her train of thought, but turned to look anyway, immediately wishing she hadn't.

At the moment, their campsite was situated just on the other side of the top of a large dune that Hazel was currently standing at the top of. At first, after Annabeth had trudged up to the top to stand next to Hazel and look at the valley below, she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. But then she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She whipped around only to see a singular hellhound that appeared to be stuck in the sand. Or more accurately, the sand was trapping it. As she watched, small specks began climbing up the body of the entire hellhound, seemingly defying the laws of gravity. The specks left nothing behind but bones that soon dissolved into the usual yellow monster dust.

They had assumed the desert was made of sand. They were wrong.

The sands shifted beneath their feet.

"We have to get out of here", Annabeth said, her voice deathly quiet in the silence that had suddenly taken over the valley. " _We have to get out of here!_ ".

The two girls turned tail and ran, even as the dune they had just been standing on exploded behind them.

"Go! Run!", Annabeth screamed at her friends who had looked towards them at the sudden noise. She grabbed the hand of the younger girl beside her, sprinting to catch up to the rest of their group who were packing up their things as fast as they possibly could.

A shadow grew over the group, blocking out the already minimal light and continuing to grow as the dune behind them slowly extended into a large tendril of… _something_.

Jason and Leo, who had been newly energised by his contact with the fire water, hurried to help Piper to stand while Nico and Hazel did the same for Frank who's injury was less severe.

"Don't stay in one place for too long!", Annabeth told the group as she felt the insects or monsters or whatever they were begin to crawl up her shoe.

"This way!", Jason yelled to get their attention, pulling Piper and Leo with him to the left and around the dune-come-to-life.

The rest of the group soon spotted what Jason had and began sprinting, as fast as they were able to with two injured members, towards the distant line of black that marked the change in terrain.

Shockwaves travelled out through the ground beneath them as they ran, marking the pursuit of the living sand as it dove in and out of the ground after them. The flashes of colour in the clouds and angered and pained screeches from the battle above them reached a new height, and fire began to rain down from the clouds all around them. The dead bodies of some sort of creature rained down from the sky, hitting the ground around them in explosions that threw the living sand into the air and making it twice as hard for the group of demigods to avoid it touching them.

They had almost made it to the rough stone ground of the terrain beyond when the tendril that had been in hot pursuit of them the entire time lashed out, just barely managing to wrap around Annabeth's left ankle and dragging her to the ground.

"Annabeth!", Hazel screamed in alarm, drawing the rest of the group's attention.

She rolled around on the ground, trying to get the coil to release her while simultaneously avoiding being completely engulfed by the living sand around her. But its grip was tight, and nothing she was doing seemed to be affecting it.

"Go! Get off the sand!", she yelled desperately over her shoulder, still thrashing.

Small cuts began to appear all over her body from when she hadn't moved fast enough, and just when she was beginning to accept that she probably wasn't going to get out of this one, she felt two hands grab her under her armpits and pull with such force that she was ripped from the monster's grip and deposited at her friends' side.

She didn't even need to look to know who had saved her, the frosty temperature of his skin and scent of the sea that always accompanied him being more than enough of a clue. Xavier followed in their wake, flying on golden wings with his twin swords out and dripping with fire

The group collapsed just at the edge of the next terrain, exhausted from their sudden and unexpected sprint. The creature made of living sand reared up at the edge of its territory and screeched, angry at losing its prey.

Jason, along with the rest of the group, covered their ears to try and block out the noise. "If we don't get that thing to shut up, it'll attract every monster in Tartarus", he yelled over the noise.

"That's a nice idea and all, but in case you haven't noticed, it's made of sand! How do you kill _sand_?!", Nico yelled back, frustrated at the entire situation so far.

Xavier stepped forward, flames still roaring in his eyes from the heat of the battle that had just taken place. "Close your eyes", he commanded, his voice more serious than anybody had ever heard him.

They all immediately did what he said, even Percy, who turned away and covered the group as best he could with his outstretched wings.

Xavier's own wings disappeared as he stepped forward. His skin tingled with suppressed energy and power, and the visible veins in his arms and wrists began to turn golden. He had always been one to keep his powers and his aura tightly under control. Fire and heat was uncontrollable and destructive. Simply because of the nature of his powers, he couldn't afford to allow them to get out of his control. But the _mikró_ _fónoi_ were old and resilient. It would require a lot of power to kill a nest of them.

Annabeth waited in tense anticipation with her eyes closed for Xavier to somehow destroy the living sand for approximately 20 seconds before she felt it. A light: hot, burning, scorching, destructive. It seared the back of her eyelids and made her want to scream out in pain.

The screeching of the monster grew anguished and somehow impossibly louder until, all of a sudden, it stopped. A soft sound, like the cactus needles falling to the other end of a rain stick, rang out in the new silence and then nothing.

—

"What _was_ that thing?", Leo asked later that night as they all sat around the meagre campfire they had built for themselves.

The flickering light from the flames threw shadows over Xavier's face as he looked into the fire, making him look older than he really was.

" _Mikró_ _fónoi_ ", he said simply, "Little devourers. They used to be found in deserts all over the world, but their nests have become few and far in between on the surface world. They are very old monsters. Old enough to be forgotten".

The fire crackling was the only sound as the group all pondered over this new information.

"You are lucky to have escaped as easily as you did. In small quantities, they are practically harmless. But a big nest like that?". He left the question hanging, but they all got the message.

 _They were lucky to be alive._

Looking around at the grim faces of her friends around her, Piper decided that a change in topic was in order. "So how far away are we from the Unruled?". The group immediately perked up and looked towards Percy for the answer.

He looked to the left, beyond the mountain they had decided to stop and camp for the night on and into the hazy distance. "It shouldn't be much farther now. If we cut across the Delta of Despair we should half our time, but that area is dangerous. There's a lot of monsters since the Delta is the only source of drinkable water that isn't made of fire. We should make a stop there too. Phlegethon water will keep us alive, but real water is still better. From there, we'll have to go through the curtain and walk sideways until we reach the Night. Her garden is one of the entrances to the Unruled".

His friends just stared at him, and Nico nodded. "Great! What does all that mean exactly?".

Percy rolled his eyes, but the corner of his mouth twitched slightly. "We should reach there by tomorrow. But we should rest again before we enter the Unruled. Sleeping there would not be a good idea".

"Agreed". Annabeth looked up at him and gave him an appreciative smile. "Everybody grab some food and get to sleep. You'll need your energy".

They all nodded and turned to go their separate ways on the small ledge they had made their camp on.

"I'm going to go up top. I'll keep first watch", Xavier said with a troubled look on his face. He didn't give Percy or anybody else a chance to reply before his wings opened and he disappeared.

Percy frowned after him worriedly and was about to go after him, but a hand on his shoulder held him back.

"Just give him some space. He needs to think through some things", Annabeth said, gently pulling him back. "Come on, you need your rest too".

Percy sighed and ran a hand through his hair but still did what she asked and laid down on the rough ground next to her.

They simply lay there for a moment, comfortable and soothed by just the other's presence, before Annabeth spoke, breaking it.

"We're going to get through this. Aren't we?". She turned over to face Percy so that their noses were only a few inches apart and stared into his eyes intently. They were still just as beautiful and complex as she remembered them being.

"I don't know", he replied just as quietly. "I don't know". He tucked her close to his chest, savouring the smell of her strawberry and lemon scented shampoo. "You should get some rest. You were almost eaten by sand today".

Annabeth chuckled at that, but it was half-hearted at best. "I love you, you know that?", she whispered against his chest, comforted by the sound of his heart beating beneath her head.

"I know. I love you too. Now get some sleep". She was too exhausted to try and argue and soon drifted off into a hopefully dreamless oblivion.

Meanwhile, Leo, Jason, and Piper were all still awake and sitting together by the fire.

"So… That was an interesting first day", Leo said rather dryly.

Piper snorted. "Yeah. You could say that".

"Overall, though. It wasn't too bad. You know, considering we're in hell and everything", he continued, a cheeriness to his tone that definitely shouldn't have been there considering their current location.

"Speak for yourself", Jason muttered, poking the dying flames with a stick. His blue eyes seemed haunted with memories from both their current quest and the previous wars. Screams played in his ears, and his poking got angrier.

"It wasn't _that_ bad—", Leo started, but he was interrupted by Jason throwing his stick angrily into the fire and scattering the embers.

"You weren't there! I had to watch you _die_ , Leo. I had to watch you die, and I couldn't do a _damn_ thing about it. _Again_!". Unshed tears burned at the backs of his eyes, but he blinked them away.

"Alright! Jeez, I get it. Didn't know you cared so much". He muttered the last part under his breath, but his two best friends still heard it.

"Don't say that. Don't _ever_ say that", Piper said in a hoarse whisper, "Of course we care! You're our best friend, Leo. If we lost you—". The tears that had been gathering in her eyes fell rapidly down her cheeks, forcing her to stop, but he got the message.

"Hey, hey, hey. Don't cry, Beauty Queen, don't cry. It's alright, okay? Look, I'm not going anywhere", he said pulling her into a hug.

"Leo, you don't know that. _None of us_ knows that. And that's alright, danger comes with the job, but please just promise us that you won't be too reckless. Please?".

He was shocked speechless, something that almost never _ever_ happened to him. But even still he managed to stammer out an, "I promise". His friend's nodded gratefully, and Piper pecked him on the cheek before Jason helped her over to their small area of floor that they had chosen to sleep on.

Leo only moved to lay on the ground right beside the dying fire, but even with how tired he was, he still didn't fall asleep for a rather long time after that. One thought continued to plague his mind. One thought that he could hardly bring himself to believe even as he succumbed to the darkness of Hypnos' realm.

 _He was wanted._

 **A/N:**

 **Alright! What's happening, guys?! It's been a while!**

 **I know, I know, I promised that I wouldn't turn into one of those author's, but it seems the world is against me right now. Pulling this chapter out of my brain was actually borderline painful. I'm glad that I write fanfiction and not anything original, because I am running on empty right now on ways to make the Unruled different from the rest of Tartarus. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to share them. I'm desperate.**

 **So… in other news. As the dreaded GCSE exams grow closer, I'm afraid my updating schedule will become somehow even more erratic (if you can believe that's possible). I only have time to write and update now today because it's Half-Term break and I have the whole week to study. **

**I just really want to thank you guys for sticking with this story, especially those of you who have been here since the beginning. It really means a lot to me every time I can check my inbox and see that I've gotten another follower or even a coveted review.**

 **Alright, mushy stuff/author's rant/apology over. I've got to go to sleep now considering it's almost midnight here and I want to get an early start tomorrow. Stay awesome, you guys! :3**


End file.
